Between Scylla and Charybdis: Learned Letter Writers Navigating the Reefs of Religious and Political Controversy in Early Modern Europe (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History)

Between Scylla and Charybdis

Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History General Editor

A.J. Vanderjagt, University of Groningen Editorial Board

C.S. Celenza, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore M. Colish, Oberlin College J.I. Israel, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton M. Mugnai, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa W. Otten, University of Chicago

VOLUME 192

Between Scylla and Charybdis Learned Letter Writers Navigating the Reefs of Religious and Political Controversy in Early Modern Europe

Edited by

Jeanine De Landtsheer & Henk Nellen

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011

On the cover: A ship making its way between two sea monsters. Detail of Philip Marnix of St-Aldegonde, inscription in Album amicorum of Janus Dousa. Library of Leiden University, ms. BPL 1406, f. 97r . Financial support was granted by F.W.O.-Vlaanderen, the Huygens Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Arts Faculty), and the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Between Scylla and Charybdis: learned letter writers navigating the reefs of religious and political controversy in early modern Europe / edited by Jeanine De Landtsheer & Henk Nellen. p. cm. — (Brill’s studies in intellectual history, ISSN 0920-8607; v. 192) Papers from an international colloquium held in Leuven, Brussels, and The Hague, Dec. 14–16, 2006. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-18573-9 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Europe—Intellectual life—16th century—Congresses. 2. Europe—Intellectual life—17th century—Congresses. 3. Letter writing—Europe—History—16th century—Congresses. 4. Letter writing— Europe—History—17th century—Congresses. 5. European letters—History and criticism—Congresses. 6. Intellectuals—Europe—Correspondence—Congresses. 7. Scholars—Europe—Correspondence—Congresses. 8. Written communication— Europe—History—Congresses. 9. Europe—Religion—Congresses. 10. Europe—Politics and government—1492–1648—Congresses. I. Landtsheer, J. De (Jeanine) II. Nellen, Henk J.M., 1949– D210.B48 2010 940.2’3—dc22 2010037128 ISSN 0920-8607 ISBN 978 90 04 18573 9 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.

CONTENTS List of Illustrations ............................................................................ List of Contributors ........................................................................... Introduction ........................................................................................

ix xiii xix

PART I

HUMANIST LETTER WRITING BEFORE 1550: VARIOUS APPROACHES Der neulateinische Brief als Quelle politisch-religiöser Überzeugungen: Theoretische Reflexionen zur Diskursivität einer ambivalenten Gattung ................................ Karl Enenkel Spiritual Dialogues and Politics in the Correspondance between Marguerite de Navarre and Guillaume Briçonnet (1521–1524) .................................................................................... Reinier Leushuis Erasmus and the Philological Study of the New Testament Chris L. Heesakkers

3

17

......

35

Vives and the Spectre of the Inquisition ....................................... Charles Fantazzi

53

Correspondance et stratégie d’auteur: les lettres de François Rabelais ........................................................................................... Paul J. Smith

69

vi

contents PART II

HUMANIST LETTERS AS A MIRROR OF THE REFORMATION Translation in the Service of Politics and Religion: A Family Tradition for Thomas More, Margaret Roper and Mary Clarke Basset ............................................................... Brenda M. Hosington

93

The Influence of the Protestant Reformation on Philip Melanchthon’s Letters of Recommendation ............................. Milton Kooistra

109

Georgius Cassander: Searching for Religious Peace in his Correspondence (1557–1565) ..................................................... Rob van de Schoor

127

Carolus Utenhovius (1536–1600): A Tale of Two Cities ............ Philip Ford

149

Andreas Dudith (1533–1589): Conflicts and Strategies of a Religious Individualist in Confessionalising Europe .............. Gábor Almási

161

Livres, érudition et irénisme à l’époque des Guerres de religion: Autour de la Satyre Ménippée ..................................... Ingrid A.R. De Smet

185

Topical Matters in Dedicatory Letters of Latin Plays in the Early Modern Netherlands .......................................................... Jan Bloemendal

203

contents

vii

PART III

LEARNED LETTER WRITERS IN THE NETHERLANDS AS WITNESSES OF THE DUTCH REVOLT Between Philip II and William of Orange: The Correspondence of Christopher Plantin (ca 1520–1589) ..................................... Dirk Imhof

218

New Documents on Benito Arias Montano ( ca 1525–1598) and Politics in the Netherlands .......................................................... 233 Antonio Dávila Pérez Humanist Friendship, Politics and Religion in Marnix’s Correspondence just before the Fall of Antwerp: Inconstancy or Constancy? .......................................................... Rudolf De Smet Living to the Letter: The Correspondence of Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert ................................................................... Johan Koppenol Pius Lipsius or Lipsius Proteus? ....................................................... Jeanine De Landtsheer

263

281 303

PART IV

VICISSITUDES OF LATE HUMANISM Shifting Orthodoxy in the Republic of Letters: Caspar Schoppius mirroring Justus Lipsius ........................................... Jan Papy The Limits of Transconfessional Contact in the Republic of Letters around 1600: Scaliger, Casaubon, and their Catholic Correspondents .............................................................................. Dirk van Miert

352

367

viii

contents

Between Scylla and Charybdis? Evidence on the Conversion of Christoph Besold from his Letters and his Legal and Political Thought ........................................................................... Robert von Friedeburg

409

Franciscus Junius, F.F.: la question religieuse .............................. Colette Nativel

427

Breasting the Waves: Grotius’s Letters on Church and State Harm-Jan van Dam

....

443

At the Heart of the Twelve Years’ Truce Controversies: Conrad Vorstius, Gerard Vossius and Hugo Grotius ............... Cor S.M. Rademaker

465

A Flaming Row in the Republic of Letters: Claude Saumaise on Hugo Grotius’s Crusade for Church Unity ........................ Henk Nellen

491

Public Poses Revealed: From Critical Edition to Revision. The Case of Hermannus Samsonius .......................................... Jim Dobreff

513

Index Nominum ................................................................................

531

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1. Hendrik Hondius, Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus , engraving 1599. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PK-P-124.049 ................................................................... Fig. 2. Desiderius Erasmus, Letter to Franciscus Craneveldius (24 December 1525). Catholic University Leuven, Central Library, Litt. vir. erud. ad F. Cran. , ep. 172 ............................ Fig. 3. Robert Boissard, Portrait of Juan Luis Vives , engraving ca 1587. Catholic University Leuven, Central Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PA 153 .................................................. Fig. 4. Juan Luis Vives, Letter to Franciscus Craneveldius (20 December [1520]). Catholic University Leuven, Central Library, Litt. ad Cran. Balduin. , ep. 26 .................................... Fig. 5. Albrecht Dürer, Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon , engraving 1526. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PK-P-127.105 ................................................................... Fig. 6. D. Veelwaard, Portrait of Georgius Cassander , engraving. Catholic University Leuven, Central Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PA 585 ............................................................................... Fig. 7. Andreas Dudith, Letter to Justus Lipsius (1 March 1587). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 4 (D) .............................. Fig. 8. Jan Wierix, Portrait of Christopher Plantin , engraving (ca 1588). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. KP B 1260 ............................................ Fig. 9. Christopher Plantin, Letter to Gabriel de Zayas (6 October 1579). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 10, fol. 5v ............................................................................ Fig. 10. Christopher Plantin, Letter to Gabriel de Zayas (21 December 1585). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 10, fol. 64r ........................................................................... Fig. 11. Anonymous, Portrait of Benito Arias Montano , engraving. Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. OP 11064 ............................................. Fig. 12. Benito Arias Montano, Letter to Johannes Moretus (4 May 1592). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 76, f. 113 ...............................................................................................

37 38 54 56 110 128 163 218 228 232 234 254

x

list of illustrations

Fig. 13. Hendrik Hondius, Portrait of Philip Marnix of St-Aldegonde, engraving 1599. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PK-P-122.960 ...................................... Fig. 14. Philip Marnix of St-Aldegonde, Letter to Bonaventura Vulcanius (20 September 1589). Leiden University Library, ms. Vulc. 106:1 ............................................................................. Fig. 15. Philip Marnix of St-Aldegonde, inscription in Album amicorum of Janus Dousa. Leiden University Library, ms. BPL 1406, f. 97r ..................................................................................... Fig. 16. Franciscus van de Steen after Hendrik Goltzius, Portrait of Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert , engraving after 1640. Catholic University Leuven, Central Library / Prentenkabinet (unnumbered) ................................................... Fig. 17. Theodore Galle, Portrait of Justus Lipsius , engraving 1605. Catholic University Leuven, Central Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PA 81 .................................................... Fig. 18. Adolf van der Laan, Portrait of Justus Lipsius , engraving 1733. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. Singer 18.538 ................................................................................. Fig. 19. Justus Lipsius, Letter to Theodorus Leeuwius (29 April 1587). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 3(1), f. 24 .......... Fig. 20. Caspar Schoppius, Letter to Justus Lipsius (1 April 1606). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 4 (S) ................... Fig. 21. Jan de Leeuw, Portrait of Josephus Justus Scaliger , engraving, s.a. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. Singer 26.874 .................................................................... Fig. 22. Josephus Justus Scaliger, Letter to Justus Lipsius (12 February 1577). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 4 (S) ....................................................................................... Fig. 23. Pieter van Gunst after Pieter van der Werff, Portrait of Isaac Casaubon, engraving 1709. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. WGW 355A ........................................ Fig. 24. Wenceslaus Hollar after Anthonie van Dijck, Portrait of Franciscus Junius Jr , etching, s.a. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. Singer 15.287 ...................... Fig. 25. Willem Swanenburch, Portrait of Hugo Grotius , engraving 1613. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. 116 B 15 ............................................................................

264 265 272

282 304 306 326 352 374 378 391 428 444

list of illustrations

xi

Fig. 26. Hugo Grotius, Letter to Daniel Heinsius (28 July 1603). Leiden University Library, ms. BPG 77, no. 13 ...................... 445 Fig. 27. David Bailly, Portrait of Gerardus Joannes Vossius , pen drawing 1625. Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet / Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RP-T-1963-259 ................................................................. 468 Fig. 28. Gerardus Joannes Vossius, Letter to Hugo Grotius (23 October 1614). Leiden University Library, ms. Pap. 3 (V) ................................................................................................... 469 Fig. 29. Lucas Vorsterman, Portrait of Claude Saumaise , engraving. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. 1219a .................................................................................. 496 Fig. 30. Anonymous, Portrait of Hugo Grotius , engraving. G. Brandt, Historie der Reformatie en andre Kerkelyke Geschiedenissen II, Amsterdam 1674 ........................................ 497 Fig. 31. Hugo Grotius, Letter to Claude Saumaise (24 February 1631). Amsterdam University Library, Collection Remonstrantse Gemeente Amsterdam, ms. Q 3 ... 509

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Gábor Almási (Ph.D. in History) is working as Magyary Zoltán Postdoctoral Fellow at Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, researching the influence of confessionalisation on knowledge production and preparing an edition of Johannes Sambucus’s prefaces. Among other publications, he is author of The Uses of Humanism. Johannes Sambucus (1531–1584), Andreas Dudith (1533–1589), and the East Central European Republic of Letters (Leiden-Boston 2009). Jan Bloemendal is Senior Researcher at the Huygens Institute (The Hague) of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, focusing on the edition of the Opera omnia of Erasmus, and Professor of NeoLatin studies at the University of Amsterdam. His research topics include early modern humanism and theology, drama, poetry, poetics and reception studies. He recently published an edition of Gerardus Joannes Vossius, Poeticae institutiones (Leiden-Boston 2010). Furthermore he is general editor of Brill’s Studies in Early Modern Theatre, and editor of Vondel: Dutch Playwright in the Golden Age . Harm-Jan van Dam is Associate Professor of Latin at VU University Amsterdam. His recent articles focus on (Neo)-Latin occasional verse, especially that of Daniel Heinsius. Earlier he published a commentary on Statius’s Silvae Book II and a critical text with commentary and translation of Hugo Grotius’s De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra. Antonio Dávila Pérez is Professor of Latin Philology at the University of Cádiz (Spain), focusing on Latin Humanism of the Spanish Renaissance, with special attention to Benito Arias Montano as a letter writer. He has published a modern edition with Spanish translation of the correspondence of Arias Montano at the Museum Plantin-Moretus and prepares the edition of Montano’s letters kept at the Archivo General de Simancas (Valladolid).

xiv

list of contributors

James Dobreff was a Research Fellow at Lund University (2008) and worked on the Oxenstierna project. Currently, he is the director and editor of the Daniel Rolander Critical Edition Project. His main fields of research are Latin manuscripts from the post-medieval period with particular emphasis on natural history, epistolography and the classical tradition and use of Neo-Latin colloquia in early modern and modern pedagogy. He is the author of ‘Daniel Rolander: The Invisible Naturalist’ in Systema Naturae 250—The Linnaean Ark (2010), in which he employs the critical apparatus of his coming first edition of Rolander’s Diarium Surinamicum (2011). Karl Enenkel, previously Professor of Neo-Latin at Leiden University (The Netherlands), is now Professor of Medieval and Neo-Latin at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (Germany). He has published widely on international humanism, early modern organisation of knowledge, literary genres 1300–1600, and emblem studies. Recently, he has written Die Erfindung des Menschen. Die Autobiographik des frühneuzeitlichen Humanismus von Petrarca bis Lipsius (2008). He has (co-)edited and co-authored several volumes in Intersections. Yearbook for Early Modern Studies , published by Brill. Charles Fantazzi is Thomas Harriot Distinguished Visiting Professor at East Carolina University. He is member of the Editorial Board of the Collected Works of Erasmus (University of Toronto Press) in which series he has participated as a translator. He is also general editor and translator of the Selected Works of J.L. Vives (Brill), and editor-translator of Poliziano’s Silvae in the I Tatti series. Philip Ford specialises in French and neo-Latin literature, with special emphasis on the relationship between humanism and writing, and between vernacular and Latin texts. His publications include George Buchanan, Prince of Poets , a book on Ronsard’s Hymnes (1997), an annotated edition of Jean Dorat, Mythologicum, ou interprétation mythologique de l’Odyssée X–XII et de L’Hymne à Aphrodite , and proceedings of nine conferences organised in Cambridge on the French Renaissance. His most recent work is on the reception of Homer in the Renaissance: De Troie à Ithaque: Réception des épopées homériques à la Renaissance (Geneva 2007).

list of contributors

xv

Robert von Friedeburg is Professor in Early Modern Social History and History of Political Thought at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Recent or future publications are Geschichte Europas in der fruehen Neuzeit, Neue Fischer Weltgeschichte (Frankfurt 2011); Self Defence and Religious Strife in Early Modern Europe , St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Aldershot 2002); ‘ The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’ (sections I–III), in H. Lloyd et al. (eds), European Political Thought 1450–1700, (Yale, New Haven 2007), 102–166; ‘The Making of Patriots: Love of Fatherland and Negotiating Monarchy in Seventeenth Century Germany’, in Journal of Modern History 77 (2005), 881–916. Chris Heesakkers taught Neo-Latin at the universities of Amsterdam and Leiden. He published Latin texts and/or translations of Erasmus, Hadrianus Junius, Janus Dousa, Justus Lipsius, Constantijn Huygens and others, and facsimile editions with transcription and translation of the alba amicorum of Dousa (2000) and Jan van Hout (2009). He wrote articles on those and other humanists and on related topics (university history, history of classical philology, emblem books, alba amicorum). Brenda M. Hosington is a Professeur honoraire at the Université de Montréal and a Research Associate at the University of Warwick. She has published many articles in the fields of medieval and Renaissance translation, Neo-Latin studies, and Englishwomen’s translations and Latin writings. She also co-edited a prize-winning critical edition with translation of the writings of the English poet Elizabeth Jane Weston. At present she is preparing a monograph on women’s translations in England and a volume of essays on translation and print in England. Dirk Imhof is Curator of the rare books and archives at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. His research focuses on sixteenthcentury book history in Antwerp and the Plantin Press in particular. Together with Karen Bowen he published Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations in Sixteenth Century Europe (Cambridge 2008). In the same year he earned a Ph.D. in History at the University of Antwerp with a thesis on the Antwerp printer Johannes I Moretus.

xvi

list of contributors

Milton Kooistra is working as Associate Bibliographer at the Records of Early English Drama, University of Toronto. He is also a Fellow at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, University of Toronto. Kooistra’s main fields of research are early modern letter-writing, humanism and the Reformation, in particular in Strasbourg, and Wolfgang Capito. He is involved in Erika Rummel’s edition and translation of the Correspondence of Wolfgang Capito. Johan Koppenol is Professor of Dutch Literature at the V.U. Amsterdam. He has specialized in the literature of the Dutch Golden Age and published on Renaissance poetics, rhetoricians, Jan van Hout, Joost van den Vondel and Jacob Westerbaen. Recently he has been co-editing a new edition of the poetry by P.C. Hooft (with Ton van Strien). Currently he is working on a biography of the Dutch poet and politician Jacob Cats. Jeanine De Landtsheer (Ph.D. in Classical Languages) is research fellow of the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae of the Catholic University of Leuven. She focuses on Justus Lipsius in particular, of whose correspondence she has published several volumes already. Author of scores of articles about his life and work, she is now preparing a Companion to Justus Lipsius . Another favourite topic of research is Erasmus: she has translated the Institutio principis Christiani , a selection of the Colloquia and of the Adagia into Dutch, and has written some articles comparing, among others, Lipsius’s and Erasmus’ correspondence, or their political ideas. Reinier Leushuis, Associate Professor of French and Italian at Florida State University, specializes in early modern dialogue, the literary treatment of marriage and friendship, and Franco-Italian literary connections. He is the author of Le Mariage et l’amitié courtoise dans le dialogue et le recit bref de la Renaissance (Florence 2003) and has published articles on a wide variety of French and Italian Renaissance authors. Currently he is completing a book on the influence of Italian literary dialogues on French Renaissance authors, and pursuing research on the role of dialogue in sixteenth-century spiritual writings. Dirk van Miert is an intellectual historian of the early modern period and is based at the Huygens Institute (The Hague) of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is an editor of the correspondence of Joseph Scaliger (Geneva 2011) and a managing editor of

list of contributors

xvii

Lias. Journal of Early Modern Intellectual Culture and its Sources . In 2009, Brill published his book on Humanism in an Age of Science. The Amsterdam Athenaeum in the Golden Age, 1632–1704 . Colette Nativel is ‘maître de conférences habilité à diriger des recherches’ and teaches art history at the Université de Paris I-PanthéonSorbonne. She has published an edition with the first French translation of Franciscus Junius’s De pictura ueterum libri tres (Rotterdam 1694) (Geneva 1993). She is also editor of Centuriae Latinae, vol. 1.: Geneva 1997; vol. 2: ibid. 2006. Henk Nellen, Senior Researcher at the Huygens Institute (The Hague) of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, is co-editor of the five last volumes of the correspondence of Hugo Grotius and author of Hugo de Groot. Een leven in strijd om de vrede (1583–1645) , Amsterdam 2007. In addition, he has conducted research into other topics in the history of the 17th-century scholarly world. Currently, he holds a chair for the History of Ideas in the Early Modern Period at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (Dept. of History). Jan Papy is Research Professor of Neo-Latin at the Catholic University of Leuven. Besides being the editor of Iusti Lipsi Epistolae: Pars XIII (1600) (Brussels 2000), he has published on Italian humanism, humanism in the Low Countries, intellectual history and Renaissance philosophy in the Low Countries (16th-17th centuries). He is coeditor of Self-Presentation and Social Identification. The Rhetoric and Pragmatics of Letter Writing in Early Modern Times (Leuven 2002), and Petrarch and his Readers in the Renaissance (Leiden 2005). Dr. Cornelis S.M. Rademaker, ss.cc. studied philosophy, theology, music and history. From 1961 he was a secondary school teacher and in 1971 he became Associated Professor at the Institute of Neo-Latin Studies of the University of Amsterdam. Since 1977 he has been active for his religious missionary congregation. His publications are in the field of Dutch humanism (16th and 17th centuries), with main focus on Gerardus Jan Vossius and Isaac Vossius. Rob van de Schoor is Associate Professor in 19th-century Dutch literature at the Radboud University Nijmegen. After a Ph.D. (1991) on 17th-century irenism, he focused on Georgius Cassander and Petrus Canisius.

xviii

list of contributors

Ingrid De Smet is Associate Professor (Reader) in French Studies at the University of Warwick (UK). She specializes in the intellectual culture of the 16th and early 17th century, with an emphasis on, but not limited to, the period of the French Wars of Religion. De Smet is the author of Menippean Satire in the Republic of Letters, 1583– 1655 (Geneva 1996) and Thuanus. The Making of Jacques-Auguste de Thou (Geneva 2006), as well as of numerous other articles and papers on the classical tradition and on Neo-Latin and French Renaissance literature. Rudolf De Smet (V.U. Brussels) made his Ph.D. on Hadrianus Beverlandus. His fields of interest involve humanists and scientists of the Renaissance (Erasmus, Lipsius, Marnix, Stevin, Vesalius, Wier), and of the Enlightenment (Newton). He is editor of the series Marnixi Epistulae. Paul Smith is Professor of French literature at the University of Leiden. He is the author of Voyage et écriture. Étude sur le Quart Livre de Rabelais (1987), Het schouwtoneel der dieren. Embleemfabels in de Nederlanden (1567–ca. 1670) (2006) and Réécrire la Renaissance, de Marcel Proust à Michel Tournier. Exercices de lecture rapprochée (2009); co-author of Francis Ponge: lectures et méthodes (2004), and co-editor of Montaigne and the Low Countries (1580–1700) (2007) and of Early Modern Zoology. The Construction of Animals in Science, Literature and the Visual Arts (2007).

INTRODUCTION Profluunt mihi [epistolae] ex liquido quodam canali aperti pectoris, et ut animus aut corpus meum est cum scribo, ita illae. Languent enim illae, excitantur; dolent, gaudent; calent, frigent mecum. Affectus animi corporisque mei in hac tabella. Ingenii mei, adfectus, iudicii, imo et vitae non vana imago istic.1

The dawn and extraordinarily fast evolution of the digital era with its seemingly unlimited possibilities has completely changed the ways in which people keep in touch with each other both in their contacts about private or professional life, and in public communication. The number of such contacts has expanded enormously, yet at the same time they tend to be transient and superficial. In consequence, the practice and art of letter writing, which had been thriving from Antiquity onwards, seems to have become outmoded, even doomed. 2 Nevertheless, the interest in the letters of politicians, scientists, scholars, writers and other artists of both the present and the past has never been more marked than in our days. This has led to a steadily increasing number of printed or digital editions of complete correspondences mainly intended for specialist research, but also to an impressive quantity of anthologies, either in their original language or translated, aiming at a general readership. The interest of the scholarly world of our days in letter writers of the early modern times has certainly been stimulated from the late nineteenth century onwards, when the correspondences of wellknown persons, such as antiquarian Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc,

1 ‘My letters flow forth from some pure channel of my open heart and like my mind or my body is when I am writing, so are my letters. For they are weary or eager, grieving or rejoicing; full of warmth or cold together with me. The feelings of my mind and body are in this piece of paper. Hence you find here a true image of my mind, my mood, my opinions, and, indeed, of my life.’ Justus Lipsius in the Preface to the Reader of the first of his Epistolarum Centuriae duae. Quarum prior innovata, altera nova (Leiden: F. Raphelengius, 1590), *3r–v. 2 Of course, the core and number of carefully crafted letters continue to exist as e-mail, but they are rather difficult to discern amidst the ocean of e-mails that we suffer every week.

xx

introduction

cartographer Abraham Ortelius, printer Christopher Plantin, painterdiplomat Peter Paul Rubens, scientist Galileo Galilei, and philosopher René Descartes were gradually put to press. 3 A landmark for editing humanist correspondences was, of course, 1906 when the Oxford historian Percy Stafford Allen published the first volume of his directive Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami .4 Following his example, (teams of) scholars in the Netherlands set up and successfully accomplished long-term projects such as the edition of the letters of the poet Constantijn Huygens, his famous son, the physicist Christiaan, and the jurist Hugo Grotius, whereas the correspondence of the microscopist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek is well on its way.5 In a similar way Belgian scholars have been devoting themselves from the 1970s onwards to the prolific correspondence of Justus Lipsius and the more modest collection of his contemporary, Philip Marnix of St-Aldegonde. 6 The past decades have given evidence of innumerable other projects abroad, all focusing on the disclosure of corpuses of correspondence from the early modern times down to our days. 7 3 Cf. Ph. Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Lettres de Peiresc , 7 vols (Paris 1888–1898); J.H. Hessels (ed.), Abraham Ortelii et virorum eruditorum ad eundem et ad Jacobum Colium Ortelianum epistulae , Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae Archivum 1, 2 vols (Cambridge 1887; repr. Osnabrück 1969; Torhout 1988); M. Rooses and J. Denucé (eds), Correspondance de Christophe Plantin , 9 vols (Antwerp 1883–1918) and M. Van Durme (ed.), Supplément à la Correspondance de Christophe Plantin (Antwerp 1955); C.L. Ruelens and M. Rooses (eds), Correspondance de Rubens et documents épistolaires concernant sa vie et ses oeuvres , 6 vols (Antwerp 1887–1909); A. Favaro (ed.), in Le opere di Galileo Galilei , vols 10–18 (Florence 1900–1906); M. Caspar (ed.), Johannes Keplers Gesammelte Werke , vols 13–18 (Munich 1945–1959). The correspondence of Descartes is more complicated. After earlier editions by C. Adam and P. Tannery, Oeuvres de Descartes, 11 vols (Paris 1897–1913; repr. with additions ibid. 1964–1974; 1996) and Ch. Adam and G. Milhaud, R. Descartes. Correspondance (8 vols) (Paris 1936–1963; repr. Liechtenstein 1970), a new critical edition is being prepared by a team directed by Th. Verbeek and E.-J. Bos (Utrecht). One year (1643) is already available on Internet (http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/ph/2005–0309–013011/index. htm). 4 P.S. Allen, H.M. Allen, and H.W. Garrod (eds), Opus epistolarum Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami, 12 vols, (Oxford 1906–1958). 5 J.A. Worp (ed.), De briefwisseling van Constantijn Huygens (1608–1687) , 6 vols (The Hague 1911–1917); Oeuvres complètes de Christiaan Huygens, publiées par la Société Hollandaise des Sciences, vols 1–10, and 22 (The Hague 1888–1950); P.C. Molhuysen et al. (eds), Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius , 17 vols (The Hague 1928–2001). 6 A. Gerlo, M.A. Nauwelaerts, and H.D.L. Vervliet et al. (eds), Iusti Lipsi Epistolae (Brussels 1978–) and A. Gerlo and R. De Smet (eds), Marnixi Epistulae. De briefwisseling van Marnix van Sint Aldegonde, een kritische uitgave (Brussels 1990–). 7 Limiting ourselves to Modern Times, we can, for instance, refer to the correspondences of Johannes Amerbach (A. Hartmann and B.R. Jenny, Basel), Beatus Rhenanus

introduction

xxi

A number of these epistolary projects has led to international colloquies not only concentrating on life, letters, and professional activities of a specific letter writer, but also revealing his network, his social, economical, and intellectual background. 8 A few recent examples may suffice: Lipsius’s life, studies and network have been the theme of colloquies in Strasbourg (1994), Rome (1997) and Leuven (1997); Benito Arias Montano was the subject of a colloquium held in his native village Fregenal (2001); Erasmus was commemorated with a colloquium organized on the occasion of the centenary of the first volume of the Opus epistolarum in P.S. Allen’s college of Corpus Christi (Oxford 2006). Other scholarly gatherings studied letter writing from a more general point of view: as a literary activity, as a means of cultural exchange and of self-presentation to the outside world, without taking into account a specific quality of the letter, i.e. its confidentiality, to be set against the openness of the pamphlet and official scholarly publication. Apart from the intricate problem of openness as opposed to secretive strategies and self-censure, other epistolary codes were discussed, for example politeness strategies, reciprocity of service rendering, etc.9 (J. Hirstein et al., Strasbourg), Wolfgang Capito (E. Rummel and M. Kooistra, Toronto), Theodore de Bèze (A. Dufour, B. Nicollier, and H. Genton, Geneva), the Polish humanist and diplomat Johannes Dantiscus (J. Axer and A. Skolimowska et al., Warsaw), Philip Melanchthon (H. Scheible, Heidelberg), the Spanish theologian and humanist Benito Arias Montano (A. Davila Pérez, Cadiz etc.), the French humanist and Leiden professor Josephus Justus Scaliger (P. Botley and D. van Miert, London), the Swedish chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (P.-G. Ottosson, A. Jönsson, and H. Backhaus , Stockholm), the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (C.-O. Jacobson, A.-M. Jönsson, and E. Nyström, Uppsala) [www.linnaeus.c18.net], and the Huguenot philosopher Pierre Bayle (A. McKenna, Oxford). This list, however, is far from exhaustive. 8 On Lipsius, cf. Chr. Mouchel (ed.), Juste Lipse (1547–1606) en son temps. Actes du colloque de Strasbourg, 1994 (Paris, 1996), M. Laureys, together with C. Bräunl, S. Mertens, and R. Seibert-Kemp (eds), The World of Justus Lipsius: A Contribution Towards his Intellectual Biography, Proceedings of a colloquium in the Belgian Historical Institute in Rome, 22–24 May 1997, Bulletin van het Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome 68 (Brussels—Rome, 1998), and G. Tournoy, J. De Landtsheer, and J. Papy (eds), Iustus Lipsius, Europae Lumen et Columen. Proceedings of the International Colloquium Leuven-Antwerp 17–20 September 1997, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 15 (Leuven 1999); on Arias Montanus, cf. J.M. Maestre Maestre, E. Sánchez Salor, et al. (eds), Benito Arias Montano y los humanistas de su tiempo , 2 vols (Mérida 2006). The Acta of the Erasmus colloquium are forthcoming (ed. S. Ryle). 9 See, for instance, T. Van Houdt, J. Papy, G. Tournoy, and C. Matheeussen (eds), Self-Presentation and Social Identification. The Rhetoric and Pragmatics of Letter Writing in Early Modern Times , Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 18 (Leuven 2002) and I. Bossuyt, N. Gabriëls, D. Sacré and D. Verbeke (eds), “Cui dono lepidum novum

xxii

introduction

Meanwhile, the editing and publication of all types of post-medieval texts, including correspondences, have plunged into digitalization. The tools of electronic and digital publication are reshaping how editors conduct their work and how and where their editions are ‘published’— this is particularly true for extensive collections of letters. It is possible now to publish a greater number of letters with facsimiles of the archival sources and possibly an extensive annotation attached to the text. Moreover, such editions can now be communicated to colleagues as a work in progress and an appeal can be made for their corrections, additions and even the supplementation of overlooked letters. A very clear, recent example is the Dutch project Circulation of KnowlCentury Dutch Republic. A edge and Learned Practices in the 17th Web-Based Humanities’ Collaboratory on Correspondences , which will make a number of correspondences available on the web, viz. the letters of Hugo Grotius, Caspar Barlaeus, René Descartes, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, Constantijn and Christiaan Huygens, and Jan Swammerdam. The project also includes the building of web-based tools in order to analyse and display these intellectual networks and their themes of interest. 10 The persistent interest in the art of epistolography and its thousands and thousands of scholarly letters written during the sixteenth and the seventeenth century is easy to explain by reference to the evident importance of the letter for historical research. In the scholarly world of early modern Europe letter writing was by far the most direct and important means of communication between intellectuals, next to conversation; indeed, it was often the only way to maintain regular and meaningful contact when correspondents were living at a considerable distance.11 Scholars, politicians, printers, and artists wrote to share private or professional news, to discuss the texts they were studying or to test new ideas, to pursue personal interests or to help their friends,

libellum? ” Dedicating Latin Works and Motets in the Sixteenth Century , Proceedings of the International Conference held at the Academia Belgica, Rome, 18–20 August 2005, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 23 (Leuven 2008). 10 Cf. a short description of this NWO-project 2008 on http://www.huygensinstituut.knaw.nl. 11 It is, for instance, striking how correspondents in distant parts of Europe busily started writing to each other with the approach of the next book fair because they could easily (and probably more securely) pass their letters to printers or colleagues visiting that event.

introduction

xxiii

for instance by asking for advice or practical information and services, by recommending former students, or enlisting someone’s support in polemics. Epistolary exchanges thus often provide a private lens into major political, religious and scholarly events. In this respect religion played a crucial role. After 1500, the Reformation caused a clear break with the medieval world. Society became marked by political turmoil, social upheaval, and religious controversies in an increasing way, often leading to outright clashes and (civil) war. In Germany, the Reformation brought a radical change affecting many, if not all regions. Somewhat later, in the second half of the century, France was ravaged by a long series of religious wars. Before long, the Low Countries were divided by the Revolt, which was formally ended only in 1648 with the acknowledgement of the Republic of the United Provinces as an independent state. Once the Reformation had gained the upper hand in most countries of Northern and Central Europe, this development caused a proliferation of treatises on the relationship between Church and State. Despite occasional isolated calls for tolerance, the majority of princes, prelates and politicians considered the slightest aberration of what was preached as the common creed nothing less than horrible heresy. Gradually, the boundaries between the Christian confessions became ever more rigid: the great controversy of the early Reformation had resulted in a permanent fragmentation of the Church. Only in the twentieth century did religious polarization decrease under the influence of a gradual process of secularization. It goes without saying that these upheavals thoroughly affected and afflicted the lives of numerous men of learning. They could not shy away from these tensions, which were impossible to ignore, not even in the virtual space of the Republic of Letters. Loath to play a marginal role in society, they fervently engaged in a struggle for a better, more harmonious world. Their activities in various fields of knowledge, however, often led to insights and convictions that did not agree with official, established opinions. As most intellectuals were dependent on the protection of princes, prelates, or governments, openness on controversial issues would certainly slow down or endanger a successful career. The private sphere of letter writing allowed them to express, or allude to the conflicts of interest which arose from their studies, social position, and religious beliefs. Scholarly correspondences thus constitute an unparalleled source on the interrelation between broad

xxiv

introduction

historical developments and the convictions of a particularly expressive group of individuals. This book is the aftermath of an international colloquium held in Leuven, Brussels and The Hague on 14–16 December 2006 and it focuses foremost on how the afore-mentioned personal doubts, frictions and discontent with political and religious events are reflected in the correspondences of a number of learned letter writers of the sixteenth and early-seventeenth century. At the same time it illustrates from various angles the special status of the letter in early modern times. When analysing and discussing correspondences, one should, of course, keep in mind which type of letters one is examining. The perception of humanist letter writing has passed through a major evolution, emancipating itself from the literary and rhetorical directives in Petrarch’s carefully reworked letters in the middle of the fourteenth century towards the much simpler, more direct personal exchange of thoughts between friends or colleagues, a ‘conversation with absent friends’, as it is so often characterized. Moreover, one has also to consider the state in which the letters are preserved, i.e. as handwritten notes, (autograph) drafts, (original) autograph letters or authorized copies sent by mail, unauthorized copies, (un)authorized print, or posthumous editions, the latter selected and prepared either by the author, or by someone else. Scholars in particular exerted themselves in conducting an extensive correspondence with the intention of publishing a carefully revised and possibly censured selection from a corpus built up in the course of the years. In other cases friends and relatives of a renowned scholar had part of his correspondence published soon after his death to honour the deceased (and themselves, the addressees, at the same time). Even in newsletters written to convey information about his private or professional life, or about historical events, an author may have tampered with historical truth by a whole set of techniques of concealment, social conformation and self-fashioning. Although in these cases the factual value of a letter as a direct report of events has disappeared, this nevertheless does not detract from its value as a literary and historical source. In general, though, all letters sent by mail must be considered a means of communication with a strictly limited public, namely the addressee and a small group of intimate friends. The confidentiality inherent to letter writing allowed their authors to vent, or at least suggest the inner strife they had to go through before taking the definitive

introduction

xxv

step of either standing up for an opinion that would surely encounter opposition, or choosing the line of least resistance and adapting their personal views to the ideas of their surroundings. In short, this book illustrates to what extent the correspondences of a range of eminent learned men can be used as a reliable source to clarify their attitude towards the political and religious problems of their age. The scope of our research is positivist, as it tries to describe the external organization of correspondence networks and the function of letter writing in the general process of communication. Furthermore, it is meant as an illustration of the way correspondences can be used for historical research. We want to stress the importance of letters as a means to come in touch with the intimate thoughts of their authors. Most of the contributions focus on representatives of the early modern period such as Erasmus, Juan Luis Vives, François Rabelais, Philip Melanchthon, Justus Lipsius, Hugo Grotius, and Gerardus Joannes Vossius, whose reputation stretched out far beyond the borders of their native countries. A few others have combined two or more letter writers. A more thorough study of these correspondences results in adding new information about the life and the works of these key intellectual figures, and allows a more balanced judgement on them and the way they responded to the challenges of their time. In conclusion, we would like to thank all the participants of the Scylla and Charybdis colloquium for their stimulating papers and participation in the ensuing debates. We are sincerely grateful to the institutions that by their generous financial and practical support have enabled us to organize this event and publish its proceedings: the Arts faculty of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the F.W.O.-Vlaanderen (Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders), the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, and the Huygens Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. We are indebted to Erik De Bom, Tom Deneire, Marijke Janssens, and Toon Van Hal, members of the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae in Leuven, as well as to Marijke Gumbert-Hepp, Gerard Huijing, Sietze Landmeter, Henk Wals, and Nelly Werinussa, (former) staff members of the Huygens Institute in The Hague for lending a helping hand in the smooth proceeding of the colloquium. A final word of thanks goes to the institutions who kindly granted us permission for the publication of the illustrations in this book, either portraits or original letters: the University Librairies / Print Collections of Amsterdam, Leiden and

xxvi

introduction

Leuven, the Museum Plantin Moretus / Print Collection in Antwerp, and the Rijksprentenkabinet / Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam. Jeanine De Landtsheer and Henk Nellen Leuven—The Hague, 12 December 2009.

PART I

HUMANIST LETTER WRITING BEFORE 1550: VARIOUS APPROACHES

DER NEULATEINISCHE BRIEF ALS QUELLE POLITISCH-RELIGIÖSER ÜBERZEUGUNGEN Theoretische Reflexionen zur Diskursivität einer ambivalenten Gattung Karl Enenkel (Leiden) Der lateinische ‘Privatbrief ’ entwickelte sich, seit ihn Petrarca als Medium der Selbstdarstellung und der Kommunikation in der Respublica litteraria entdeckte,1 zu einer der fruchtbarsten underfolgreichsten humanistischen Textgattungen. Fast jeder Humanist schrieb in der Folge lateinische ‘familiäre’ Briefe an seine Bekannten und Freunde ( familiares), viele Humanisten sammelten ihre Korrespondenz und einer ansehnlichen Anzahl derselben gelang es, nachdem der Buchdruck das Vervielfältigungspotential von Texten ansehnlich verstärkt hatte, ihre Briefe vereinzelt oder in Sammlungen zu veröffentlichen. In den Forschungsbibliotheken und Archiven lagern weltweit viele zehntausende neulateinische Briefe und einige tausend Briefsammlungen bzw. Korrespondenzen, während nur ein kleiner Teil der so erfolgreichen Gattung bisher von der modernen Forschung adäquat erfasst worden ist.2 Der Nachholbedarf auf diesem Forschungsgebiet ist riesig, von der modernen kritischen Edition bis zur literaturhistorischen und sozialgeschichtlichen Analyse hin. Initiativen auf diesem Gebiet sind daher mehr als willkommen. Die Organisatoren der KonferenzBetween Scylla and Charybdis, Jeanine De Landtsheer und Henk Nellen, haben den neulateinischen Brief als historische Quelle in den Blick genommen. Da sich neulateinische Briefschreiber sozusagen täglich zu Wort meldeten, scheint die Gattung des ‘Privatbriefes’ interessante Einblicke

1 Siehe hierzu K.A.E. Enenkel, Die Erfindung des Menschen. Die Autobiographik des frühneuzeitlichen Humanismus von Petrarca bis Lipsius (Berlin 2008), bsd. Kap. 2 ‘Francesco Petrarca: Autobiographie in Briefen’ (40–78), und Idem, ‘Die Grundlegung humanistischer Selbstpräsentation im Brief-Corpus: Francesco Petrarca’s Familiarium rerum libri XXIV ’, in T. Van Houdt, J. Papy, G. Tournoy und C. Matheeussen (Hrsg.), Self-Presentation and Social Identification. The Rhetoric and Pragmatics of Letter Writing in Early Modern Times , Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 18 (Leuven 2002), 367–384. 2 Vgl. den wichtigen Ansatz der von Van Houdt, Papy, Tournoy und Matheeussen herausgegebenen Artikelsammlung (2002) (Anm. 1).

4

kar l enenkel

in die rasanten politischen und religiösen Entwicklungen, Stellungnahmen, die gewissermaßen ‘from inside’ vorgetragen werden, zu liefern. Dies erscheint insbesondere für die ereignisreiche Periode der Konfessionalisierung im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert relevant. Diesbezüglich haben die Organisatoren der Konferenz drei miteinander verbundene Fragen formuliert, auf die sie von den Beitragenden Antworten erwarteten. Briefe und Korrespondenzen sollten auf die Frage untersucht werden, 1. wie die Briefautoren die zeitgenössischen politischen und religiösen Ereignisse erfahren haben; 2. inwiefern aus den Briefen Formen der politischen und religiösen Repression eruiert werden können; 3. ob Unterschiede in den Stellungnahmen zu politischen und religiösen Themen zwischen den Briefen und für die Öffentlichkeit bestimmten Texten dingfest gemacht werden können. Nun ging aus den meisten Beiträgen, z.B. von Charles Fantazzi zu Vives, von Colette Nativel zu Junius, von Henk Nellen zu Saumaise, von Harm-Jan van Dam zu Grotius oder Jan Papy zu Schoppe und Lipsius—ich könnte hier noch weitere nennen—hervor, dass die frühneuzeitlichen gelehrten Briefschreiber auffällig zurückhaltend waren, wenn es um die Darstellung ihrer politisch-religiösen Auffassungen und Überzeugungen geht. Dieses Ergebnis bedarf, meine ich, einer näheren Erörterung. Offensichtlich liegt hier ein gewisses Spannungsfeld zwischen einer bestimmten modernen Erwartungshaltung und den tatsächlichen Einzelbefunden, die gemacht wurden, vor. Ich möchte in meinem Aufsatz dazu beizutragen, dieses Spannungsfeld abzuklären und die Diskursivität der Textgattung zu erörtern. Die ersten beiden Fragen, die im Konferenzkonvokat aufgeworfen wurden, gingen von der Annahme aus, dass man den Brief zwischen 1500–1700 wesentlich als Gefäß zur Mitteilung persönlicher Gedanken, Gefühle und Überzeugungen betrachtete. In der damit verbundenen Herangehensweise wird der Brief als historische Quelle verwendet, die gewissermaßen einen direkten Zugang zur Erkenntnis frühneuzeitlicher Mentalitäten ermöglicht. Ich meine, dass diese Annahme eine Reflexion erfordert: Inwiefern ist sie gerechtfertigt? Was wissen wir von den Diskursen, in denen sich neulateinische Briefautoren ihrem Publikum vermittelten? Welche frühneuzeitliche Erwartungshaltung lag den Briefen zugrunde? Zu diesem Zweck scheint es mir sinnvoll, zwei Textsorten zu befragen, die diesbezüglich Einblicke bieten können: Metatexte—Verhandlungen über das Briefschreiben/Briefsteller—und Paratexte, z.B. Vorworte zu Briefsammlungen.

der neulateinische brief als quelle politisch-religiöser

5

Wenn es um die Metatexte geht, steht uns ein sehr reichhaltiges Material zu Gebote: humanistische Briefsteller, Traktate mit Titeln wie De condendis epistolis oder Ars epistolandi, welche die spätmittelalterlichen Artes dictaminis als Grundlage der Briefliteratur ersetzten, erschienen seit dem Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts in großer Zahl im Druck. Ich nenne hier nur einige wenige Verfasser neulateinischer Briefsteller, um einen Eindruck von der weiten Verbreitung dieser Textsorte zu vermitteln: Francesco Negris Ars epistolandi (Venedig 1488), Giovanni Sulpizios De componendis epistolis (ebenfalls Venedig 1488), Konrad Celtis’ Tractatus de condendis epistolis (Ingolstadt 1492), Heinrich Bebels Modus epistolandi (Strassburg 1506), Roderich Dubravs Libellus de componendis epistolis (Wien 1515), Josse Bades In epistolarum compositionem compendium isagogicum brevitate et facilitate praeditum (Wien 1523), Johannes Ursinus’ Modus epistolandi (Krakau 1522), Juan Luis Vives’ De conscribendis epistolis (Antwerpen 1533) oder Justus Lipsius’ Institutio epistolica (zuerst Antwerpen 1591). In diesen und anderen Werken wurde in detaillierter Form auseinandergesetzt, wie der frühneuzeitliche Autor Briefe verfassen soll. Man darf erwarten, dass diese sich so massiv aufdrängende und weit verbreitete Textsorte die Briefdiskursivität der Frühen Neuzeit nachhaltig geprägt hat. Den größten Einfluss in dieser Beziehung übte Erasmus aus, der Mann, der nicht nur der Autor des wohl bedeutendsten Briefwerkes der Frühen Neuzeit war, sondern auch mit seinem De conscribendis epistolis den einprägsamsten und am weitesten verbreiteten Briefsteller verfasste. Der Traktat De conscribendis epistolis, der zum ersten Mal 1522 in Basel im Druck erschien, erlebte bereits im 16. Jahrhundert wohlgemerkt mehr als 80 Auflagen. De conscribendis epistolis bildet mit etwa 400 Druckseiten im handlichen Duodezformat 3 außerdem einen der umfangreichsten Briefsteller des neulateinischen Humanismus und zugleich einen, der seine Vorgänger in sich aufnahm und inhaltlich überlagerte. Schon daraus erhellt, dass, wenn man die Epistolographie der Frühen Neuzeit betrachtet, man nicht an diesem Werk vorbeigehen darf. Deshalb erscheint es mir sinnvoll, besonders dieses Werk zur Problematisierung der Fragestellung dieser Konferenz heranzuziehen.

3 Vgl. z.B. die weit verbreitete Ausgabe des Joannes Janssonius, Amsterdam 1636 (441 Seiten).

6

kar l enenkel

Die Paratexte der Korrespondenzvorworte kann ich an dieser Stelle nur zur Indikation verwenden, da in der augenblicklichen Forschungslage diese Materialgruppe noch nicht adäquat, geschweige denn flächendeckend analysiert worden ist. Bewusst wähle ich hier zwei Texte aus dem in religiöser und politischer Hinsicht besonders ereignisreichen 16. Jahrhundert aus. Der eine stammt aus der Zeit, in der die Folgen von Luthers Aufstand spürbar wurden (um 1520), der andere aus der Zeit, in der sich die Reformation etabliert hatte (um 1580). Der erste Text ist das Vorwort zu dem vielleicht einflussreichsten humanistischen Briefcorpus, das des Erasmus, in das uns Chris Heesakkers interessante Einblicke geboten hat. Erasmus hatte schon vor der Jahrhundertwende angefangen, seine lateinischen Briefe zu sammeln. Schon bald zirkulierten seine Briefsammlungen in handschriftlicher Form. In der Folge erschienen zu Lebzeiten des Erasmus wenigstens zwölf verschiedene Briefsammlungen im Druck. Ich behandle hier den Vorwortbrief zu der ersten Sammlung, für die Erasmus als Verfasser Verantwortung übernahm, die Epistolae ad diversos , eine monumentale Sammlung von 617 Briefen, die 1521 in Basel bei Froben erschien.4 Diese Sammlung ist auch in weiterem Sinn richtungsweisend für die neulateinische Epistolographie geworden: Sie bildet den Grundstock des Erasmischen Briefwerkes, das auf seine Zeitgenossen und die künftigen humanistischen Briefschreiber einen unauslöschlichen Eindruck machte. Mein zweites Paratext-Beispiel ist fast 60 Jahre später verfasst worden: es handelt sich um den Vorwortbrief, den der bedeutende, in Rom tätige Humanist Marc Antoine Muret seiner Briefsammlung voranschickte.5 Wenn wir die Briefsteller auf die Annahme befragen, dass man den frühneuzeitlichen Gelehrtenbrief wesentlich als Gefäß zur Mitteilung persönlicher Gedanken, Gefühle und Überzeugungen betrachtete, so ergibt sich ein diskrepanter und ambivalenter Befund. Gegen diese Annahme spricht, dass nahezu alle Briefsteller den Brief prinzipiell als rhetorisches Medium betrachten: Der Brief ist, gleichgültig ob öffent-

4 Epistolae D. Erasmi Roterodami ad diversos et aliquot aliorum ad illum, per amicos eruditos ex ingentibus fasciculis schedarum collectae (Basileae apud Io. Frobenium, an. 1521, Cal. Septembris). 5 Z.B. Leipzig 1660. Über den Briefschreiber Muret vgl. J. IJsewijn, ‘Marcus Antonius Muretus epistolographus’, in La correspondance d’Erasme et l’épistolographie humaniste (Brüssel 1985), 183–191.

der neulateinische brief als quelle politisch-religiöser

7

liche oder private Themen verhandelt werden, vordringlich auf den Adressaten hin ausgerichtet. Er wird zuvorderst nicht als Medium der ‘self-expression’ gesehen, sondern als Textsorte, mit der Briefschreiber den Adressaten auf irgendeine Weise zu überzeugen, belehren oder beeinflussen versucht. Es fällt auf, dass es ein wesentliches Anliegen der humanistischen Briefsteller ist, die verschiedenen rhetorischen Redesituationen bzw. Funktionen des Briefes zu beschreiben. Die Mehrzahl dieser Funktionen ist so angelegt, dass die ‘self-expression’ in den Hintergrund gedrängt wird. Erasmus’ De conscribendis epistolis ist in dieser Hinsicht besonders ergiebig. Erasmus überträgt auf seine Brieftheorie—wie schon einige seiner Vorgänger, z.B. Roderich Dubrav in seinem Libellus de componendis epistolis —die drei klassischen Redesituationen der antiken Rhetorik: das genus iudiciale (Gerichtsrede), das genus deliberativum (Beratungsrede) und das genus demonstrativum (Beschreibung/Lobrede).6 Es ist für das vorliegende Problem weniger relevant, die einzelnen Brieftypen, die Erasmus unterscheidet, vollständig aufzuzählen. Entscheidend ist jedoch, dass seine Vorgehensweise zur Folge hat, dass für drei Viertel der von ihm behandelten Brieftypen der Ausdruck persönlich-intimer Gefühle, Gedanken und Überzeugungen so gut wie keine Rolle spielt. Nun zur anderen Seite der Medaille: Diese hängt mit der Rezeption von Ciceros Korrespondenz zusammen. Nahezu alle neulateinischhumanistischen Briefsteller betrachten Ciceros Briefwerk als maßgebliches Vorbild. Das bezieht sich unter anderen auf Themenwahl, Stil, Komposition und Vorbildsätze oder Phrasen, die man aus Ciceros Briefen destilliert hat. Es gibt sogar Briefsteller, in denen die enge Verbindung von Brieftheorie und Cicero-Nachahmung schon im Titel sichtbar wird. Man nehme z.B. Henri de Fours De imitatione Ciceronis seu de scribendarum epistolarum ratione .7 Aus der Tatsache, dass man Ciceros Korrespondenz eine so entscheidende Rolle zubilligte, könnte man ableiten, dass man persönliche Gedanken und Gefühle für darstellungswürdig erachtete: Denn Cicero redet oftmals freizügig, ungezwungen und privat mit seinen Adressaten. Die proverbiale Formulierung Ciceros in einigen seiner Briefe, ‘Was immer einem in den Mund kommt (bzw. einfällt)’, wurde von den Humanisten

6 Vgl. K. Smolaks Ausführungen in Erasmus von Rotterdam, Ausgewählte Schriften, Bd. 8 (Darmstadt 1980), LI-LII. 7 Antwerpen 1571.

8

kar l enenkel

immer wieder als paradigmatische auctoritas verwendet.8 Für Ciceros Freizügigkeit ist freilich nicht eine etwaige gattungspoetikalische Definition des Römers verantwortlich, sondern vielmehr, dass dieser die übergroße Mehrzahl seiner Briefe als reine Gebrauchstexte betrachtete, die er nachdrücklich nicht zur Veröffentlichung bestimmte. Nun wurde Ciceros Impact durch einen der berühmten fruchtbaren Irrtümer verstärkt. Schon der erste humanistische Entdecker von Ciceros Briefen, Francesco Petrarca, war der Meinung, dass der Römer seine Briefe in der Tat veröffentlicht habe;9 und zugegeben, es war, gemessen am damaligen Stand der Forschung, schwer, Gegenteiliges festzustellen. Diesbezüglich überrascht nicht, dass die Mehrzahl der humanistischen Briefsteller davon ausging, dass Ciceros Korrespondenz von Anfang an zur Publikation bestimmt war. Der Irrtum speiste eine interessante Entwicklung: er erschloss der Epistolographie den neuen Raum des Privatbereiches, und zwar mit der Besonderheit, dass man den Privatbereich als solchen als literatur-, veröffentlichungswürdig und öffentlichkeitsreif betrachtete. Dadurch ergab sich die einigermaßen absurde Situation, dass der Privatbereich prinzipiell zu einem Teil der Öffentlichkeit geworden war. Auf den ersten Blick scheinen damit ausgezeichnete Bedingungen vorhanden zu sein, unter denen die Darstellung persönlicher Gedanken und Gefühle in Briefen gedeihen konnte. Wenn man Erasmus’ De conscribendis epistolis , wo Ciceros Briefe vielfach als Vorbilder verwendet werden, darauf näher untersucht, so ergeben sich jedoch weitere Diskrepanzen und Ambivalenzen. Zwar hat Erasmus im Zuge seiner Rezeption der Cicero-Korrespondenz den drei antiken Redegattungen eine vierte hinzugesetzt, die er dem Privatbereich widmete und genus familiare nannte. Bei einer näheren Analyse stellt sich jedoch heraus, dass er das genus familiare in eine Reihe von Brieftypen gliedert, die wieder vornehmlich rhetorischen Zielsetzungen zugeordnet sind: dem Widmungsbrief, dem Dankbrief, dem Trauerbrief, dem Glückwunschschreiben, der brieflichen Aufwartung, dem Gefälligkeitsbrief usw. Für die etwaige Mitteilung persönli8 ‘Quicquid in buccam venerit’, Cicero, Ad Atticum 1, 12, 4 und 14, 7, 2. Schon Petrarca hat diesen Ausspruch als eine für den Briefinhalt paradigmatische Formel verwendet. Siehe Familiarium rerum libri, ed. V. Rossi, Bd. I (Florenz 1933), Buch 2, 5, 14. Für die Verwendung der Formel in den humanistischen Briefstellern vgl. Heinrich Bebels knappen Leitfaden Modus epistolandi (Strassburg 1506), 20. 9 Vgl. K.A.E. Enenkel, ‘Die Grundlegung humanistischer Selbstpräsentation im Brief-Corpus’.

der neulateinische brief als quelle politisch-religiöser

9

cher Gefühle und Überzeugungen, z.B. politisch-religiöser Art, käme dabei nur ein einziger Brieftypus in Frage, die ‘Anzeige’ (nunciatio). In der nunciatio soll der Briefschreiber dem Adressaten Neuigkeiten aus dem öffentlichen und privaten Bereich vermitteln. Da in der Zeit, in der De conscribendis epistolis entstand, um 1520, bedeutende politischreligiöse Ereignisse stattfanden—man denke nur an den Aufmarsch des Lutheranismus—könnte man erwarten, dass Erasmus einkalkuliert hat, dass der Briefschreiber bei der Wiedergabe der Ereignisse persönlich Stellung beziehen würde. Eine Analyse des Abschnitts über die nunciatio lehrt jedoch, dass das Gegenteil der Fall ist: Erasmus betont, dass die Information einfach, kurz und sachlich präsentiert werden soll; davon, dass der Briefschreiber die Ereignisse bewerten oder seine persönlichen Überzeugungen in Bezug auf dieselben wiedergeben soll, ist nicht die Rede. Für den Brieftypus der nunciatio gelten die Spielregeln der narratio der Gerichtsrede: Kürze, Klarheit, Sachlichkeit;10 Wertungen sollen tunlichst vermieden werden—das ist die Aufgabe der argumentatio. Wenn im Brieftypus nunciatio überhaupt eine Reaktion auf Ereignisse berücksichtigt werden soll, dann handelt es sich bezeichnenderweise um die Reaktion des Briefempfängers. Der Briefschreiber soll, indem er die Reaktion des Adressaten antizipiert, diesen trösten, beglückwünschen oder auf andere Weise psychisch aufrichten. Somit stellt also nach Erasmus—für uns vielleicht überraschenderweise—nicht einmal die nunciatio einen locus proprius dar, politisch-religiöse Auffassungen zu vermitteln. Diesen Befund muss man im Zusammenhang mit der Problematik verstehen, welche sich aus der divergenten Begrifflichkeit ergibt, welche die Moderne und die Frühe Neuzeit mit dem Privaten verbinden. Die Moderne fasst den Privatbrief als einen Brief auf, der für den engen Bereich von Vertrauten bestimmt ist. In der Frühen Neuzeit wurde die Trennungslinie zwischen privatem und öffentlichem Bereich viel weniger scharf gezogen. 11 Einen interessanten Vergleich ermöglicht der Blick auf die Form des Privathauses. Während das Bürgerhaus in der Moderne der Kleinfamilie oder dem Individuum gehört, weist das Bürgerhaus der Frühen Neuzeit eine vielfache 10 Vgl. H. Lausberg, Handbuch der literarischen Rhetorik, 2. Aufl. (München 1960), § 289 ff. Zu den charakteristischen Eigenschaften der narratio §§ 293–307. 11 Vgl. dazu die wertvollen Bemerkungen von Judith Rice Henderson, ‘Humanist Letter Writing: Private Conversation or Public Forum’, in Self-Presentation and Social Identification, 18–38.

10

kar l enenkel

Vermischung von privatem und öffentlichem Bereich auf.12 Diese frühneuzeitliche Vermischung von privater und öffentlicher Sphäre gilt in vollem Ausmaß für den humanistischen Brief. Dieser war in der Regel nicht ausschließlich für ein bestimmtes Individuum, sondern für einen breiteren Kreis von gleich oder ähnlich Gesinnten bestimmt, welche sich unter dem Begriff der humanistischen Respublica litteraria zusammenfassen lassen. Die Privatsphäre setzt also immer einen erheblichen Anteil an Öffentlichkeit voraus, welcher für den modernen Leser nicht a priori verständlich ist. Für diesen Sachverhalt ist die frühneuzeitliche Verwendung des Begriffes familiaris bezeichnend.13 Judith Rice Henderson hat zu Recht bemerkt, dass die Humanisten diesen Begriff auf nahezu alle Arten des Briefes verwenden: ‘They used it and the Italian equivalent, familiare, for almost any kind of letter writing’. 14 Wenn man ‘epistola familiaris’ mit ‘Privatbrief ’ übersetzt, ergibt sich ein trübes und schwer verständliches Bild. ‘Epistola familiaris’ schließt vielmehr Teile der Öffentlichkeit mitein, auf die der Begriff der Respublica litteraria anzuwenden ist. Wenden wir uns nun den Paratexten der Vorwörter zu. Geht aus den Vorwörtern hervor, dass sie die Wiedergabe persönlicher Gefühle und Überzeugungen, z.B. politisch-religiöser Art, als Aufgabe der Epistolographie betrachten? Erasmus’ Vorwortbrief zu den Epistolae ad diversos an Beatus Rhenanus weist nicht in diese Richtung. 15 Dem Vorwort zufolge stellen politisch-religiöse Meinungen und Überzeugungen das gerade Gegenteil von dem dar, was Erasmus erreichen will. Erasmus will diese tunlichst verschweigen und verhüllen. Die Furcht, dass seine Briefe in dieser Hinsicht irgendetwas preisgeben würden, veranlasst ihn sogar, sich als Autor in Frage zu stellen und sich von dem Projekt zu distanzieren. Erasmus möchte vor allem eines: keinen Anstoß erregen, dem politisch-religiösen ‘battlefield’ fernbleiben. Ganz explizit bezieht er sich dabei auf die zeitgenössische Lage, den

12 Vgl. z.B. L. Burkhart, ‘Der vermeintliche Blick durchs Schlüsselloch: Zur Kommunikation zwischen unterschiedlichen Sozialsphären in der städtischen Kultur um 1500’, und K. Leonhard, ‘Das Innenleben eines Hauses: Bürgerliches Wohnen bei Johannes Vermeer’, in C. Emmelius et al. (Hrsg.), Offen und Verborgen. Vorstellungen und Praktiken des Öffentlichen und Privaten in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit (Göttingen 2004), 167–178 und 179–194. 13 Vgl. J. Basso, ‘La lettera “familiare” nella retorica epistolare del XVI e del XVII secolo in Italia’, in Quaderni di retorica e poetica 1 (1985), 57–65. 14 Rice Henderson, ‘Humanist Letter Writing’, 19. 15 Epistolae D. Erasmi Roterodami ad diversos , 3–5 (α 2r- α 3r).

der neulateinische brief als quelle politisch-religiöser

11

Aufmarsch des Lutheranismus. Er sagt, dass die ‘Lutherana tragoedia’ die freie Meinungsäußerung nahezu unmöglich gemacht habe. 16 Hass und Wut habe sich in der Respublica litteraria breit gemacht; jedes Wort werde auf die Goldwaage gelegt; keine Aussage werde mehr objektiv und adäquat in ihrem Kontext interpretiert; 17 die Äußerung von Meinungen an sich sei nunmehr gefährlich geworden. Dem entsprechen die Eingriffe, die er nach eigener Aussage als Verfasser gemacht hat, um seine Briefe für die Publikation vorzubereiten: Er hat das, was irgend Missverständnisse hervorrufen hätte können, explizitiert und mit Erklärungen versehen (‘explicui’); was irgendwie scharf formuliert war, gemildert (‘mitiora reddidi’); das, was Leser irgend erregen oder verletzen hätte können, gestrichen (‘expunxi’). 18 Außerdem legt er Beatus Rhenanus, der die Basler Ausgabe der Briefe überwachen soll, ans Herz, alles zu tilgen oder zu ändern, was irgend Anstoß erwecken könne. Seine Autorschaft gilt Erasmus wenig: Er gibt dem Editor Rhenanus eine Carte blanche, nach Belieben—wohlgemerkt in den Inhalt der Briefe—einzugreifen. Es ist klar, dass eine solche Haltung die Wiedergabe politischreligiöser Überzeugungen in Briefcorpora nicht unbedingt stimuliert. Außerdem gibt es andere Aufgaben, welche die Ausgabe eines Briefcorpus leisten konnte und sollte. In dem Vorwort betrachtet Erasmus seine Briefe als Übungen im lateinischen Stil (‘exercitatio stili’). Das mag zwar eine Verharmlosung sein, deckt sich jedoch gleichwohl mit einem realen Bedürfnis seiner Leser und den realen Ambitionen seines Herausgeber Rhenanus und seines Verlegers Froben: Für Lateinschüler und angehende Humanisten stellten die Briefe des Erasmus in der Tat ein begehrtes Vorbild guten lateinischen Stils dar. Aufschlussreich ist diesbezüglich ein anderer Paratext, das Vorwort des Herausgebers Beatus Rhenanus zu einer Vorgänger-Ausgabe der Erasmus-Briefe, dem sogenannten Auctarium selectarum epistolarum (1518).19 Erasmus’ Briefsammlung sei, sagt Rhenanus, in dreifacher Hinsicht für den Leser nützlich (‘utilis’): Sie vermittle ihm Gelehrsamkeit, Eloquenz und 16 Ebd., S. 3: ‘Mox Lutherana tragoedia in tantam exarsit contentionem, ut nec loqui tutum sit nec tacere. Rapiuntur in diversum omnia, etiam quae optimo scribuntur animo.’ 17 Ebd., S. 4: ‘ne tempus quidem perpenditur, quo scripsit aliquis, sed quod suo tempore recte scribebatur, transferunt in tempus incommodissimum.’ 18 Ebd., S. 3. 19 Opus epistolarum, P.S. Allen (ed.) (Oxford 1910), Bd. II, Appendix XI, 3 (S. 602– 603).

12

kar l enenkel

stilistische Eleganz. Davon, dass der Leser auf historische,biographische, politische oder theologische Information rechnen könne, ist nicht die Rede. Freilich weist der Paratext von Erasmus’ Vorwort zu den Epistolae ad diversos eine interessante Ambivalenz auf. In einem Abschnitt des Vorworts, in dem sich Erasmus über die wesentlichen Merkmale des Briefes Gedanken macht, unterscheidet er ‘echte’ von ‘unechten’ Briefen.20 Die Briefe des Seneca, Plato, Cyprianus, Basilius Magnus, Hieronymus und Augustinus scheiden für ihn als Vorbilder aus: Bei ihnen handle es sich eher um Traktate denn um Briefe. ‘Echte’ Briefe hingegen seien die des Cicero, Plinius des Jüngeren und des Enea Silvio Piccolomini. Es sei ein Merkmal des ‘echten’ Briefes, dass er aus dem Leben gegriffen sei und in irgendeiner Form die ‘vita hominis’ repräsentiere, also wohl: Autobiographisches darstelle. ‘Echte’ Briefe liefern ein Bild der Sitten und Gewohnheiten des Briefschreibers, und sie schildern die Ereignisse des öffentlichen und privaten Lebens ‘wie auf einem Gemälde’. Es ist klar, dass diese Auffassung des ‘echten’ Briefes viel mit Erasmus’ Rezeption der Cicero-Briefe zu tun hat. In der Zusammenschau stellen wir im Paratext also eine ähnliche Ambivalenz fest, wie sie bereits bei der Analyse der Briefsteller hervorgetreten ist: Einerseits unterdrückte man persönliche Gefühlsäußerungen und Gedanken vehement, anderseits betrachtete man die Darstellung des Privatlebens als Merkmal des ‘modernen’ lateinischen Briefes, der sich also diesbezüglich in irgendeiner Form an der Cicero- Korrespondenz orientieren soll. Im Vorwortbrief des Marc Antoine Muret aus dem Jahr 1579 lässt sich eine gewisse Verschiebung des Dilemmas beobachten. 21 Welchen Sinn soll die Publikation seiner Briefe haben? Zunächst schließt Muret explizit aus, dass die Sammlung als Stilvorbild nützlich sei. Wenn es um das Erlernen eines guten Briefstils ginge, könne man besser die Briefe des Cicero, Seneca und Plinius des Jüngeren studieren. Er, Muret, habe sich nicht im Geringsten um den Stil gekümmert; er habe weder am Stil der Briefe gefeilt noch dieselben bei der Edition überarbeitet; ja, die meisten habe er nicht einmal aufs Neue durchgelesen. Die Briefe habe er so gedruckt, wie er sie zur Zeit ihrer Abfassung spontan Epistolae D. Erasmi Roterodami ad diversos , 4. M. Antonii Mureti [. . .] Orationes, Epistolae Hymnique Sacri, ed. nova, prioribus longe emendatior et locupletior [. . .] (Leipzig: Witwe Gothofredus Grossius 1660), Bd. II, 171–172. 20 21

der neulateinische brief als quelle politisch-religiöser

13

entworfen hatte. Auch was ihren Inhalt anbetrifft, seien seine Briefe nicht wertvoll. Muret unterscheidet im Wesentlichen drei Inhalte: 1. Zeitgeschichte; 2. Philosophie; 3. Privatleben. Die ersten beiden Kategorien gestalten die Lektüre gewinnbringend, die letzte nur unter bestimmten Umständen. Nur, wenn es sich um berühmte Leute handele, sei die Darstellung des Privatlebens sinnvoll. Er, Muret, zähle nicht dazu. Da seine Briefe jedoch gerade sein Privatleben behandeln, sei ihre Lektüre keineswegs nützlich. In diesem Vorwort überhöht Muret die Bescheidenheitstopik auf provozierende Weise. Seine Architektur ist wohl so beschaffen, dass der Leser Murets Argumentation contrafakturieren soll. Anders gesagt: Er soll dazu angeregt werden, Muret sehr wohl als Stilvorbild zu betrachten und ihn e contrario als berühmten Mann zu schätzen, der es verdient, dass man sein Privatleben kennen lerne. Die stilistische Nachlässigkeit—eine Form der snobistischen sprezzatura—gerät zu einem positiven Merkmal des neulateinischen Briefes, die Darstellbarkeit des Privatlebens bildet—der Bescheidenheitskautel zu Trotz— geradezu ein Axiom. Inwieweit Murets Betonung des Privatlebens die Wiedergabe persönlicher Überzeugungen impliziert, bleibt allerdings unklar. Ich fürchte, dass er nicht wesentlich daran gedacht hat. Jedenfalls verortet er die Behandlung der religiös-politischen Lage anderwärts: nämlich im Rahmen der epistolographischen Zeitgeschichte, von der er sich als Briefautor distanziert. Wenden wir uns der zweiten Frage zu, inwiefern aus den Briefen Formen der politischen und religiösen Repression eruiert werden können. Aus dem Obigen erhellt, dass diese Frage nicht leicht beantwortet werden kann. Aus dem Nichtvorhandensein politisch-religiöser Statements in Brieftexten kann man nicht ohne weiteres auf Repression schließen. Denn sowohl die Brieftheorie als auch die Briefpraxis stimulierte die Wiedergabe politisch-religiöser Überzeugungen und Gefühle nicht. Die Diskursivität der Epistolographie war so beschaffen, dass man ohne weiteres neulateinische Briefe schreiben konnte, ohne politisch-religiöse Überzeugungen zu ventilieren. Dadurch wird fraglich, ob aktive politische und religiöse Repression überhaupt notwendig war, um die Darstellung derartiger Überzeugungen zu unterdrücken. Jedenfalls Muret scheint sich in keiner Weise vor Repression und Zensur zu fürchten, während er wohlgemerkt in Rom an der päpstlichen Universität—und somit in Griffnähe zur Inquisition—tätig war. Er war sich seiner Sache—jedenfalls vorgeblich—so sicher, dass er bei

14

kar l enenkel

der Edition nichts geändert, ja die Briefe nicht einmal erneut durchgelesen haben will. Aus den Briefcorpora, die in dieser Konferenz behandelt wurden, lässt sich kein eindeutiges Bild ableiten; bei einigen Autoren lässt sich eine ziemlich ausgeprägte Angst vor Repressionen feststellen, z.B. bei Alciato. Bei anderen Autoren ist dies nicht der Fall. Insgesamt kann man, meine ich, nicht den Schluss ziehen, dass starke, aktive politisch-religiöse Repression der Obrigkeit den hauptsächlichen Faktor darstellt, der die Selektion des Inhalts der Briefe bestimmte. Wenn Ängstlichkeiten vorhanden waren, konnten sie auch auf anderes ausgerichtet sein. Aus Erasmus’ Vorwort zu den Epistolae ad diversos beispielsweise geht hervor, dass er eher individuelle Anfeindungen, besonders lutherischer Mitglieder der Respublica litteraria, denn repressive Maßnahmen der Obrigkeit befürchtete. Weiter muss man berücksichtigen, dass in der Frühen Neuzeit das Phänomen der Selbstzensur weit verbreitet war. Die Selbstzensur beseitigt etwaige Angriffsflächen schon im Vorfeld. Die Bemerkungen des Erasmus im Vorwort zu seinen Epistolae ad diversos liefern diesbezüglich ein eloquentes Beispiel. Er gibt an, dass er Strittiges bei der Edition aus Gründen der Vorsicht getilgt habe. Obwohl Selbstzensur in concreto manchmal nur schwer belegt werden kann, bieten neulateinische Korrespondenzen der Forschung zuweilen hervorragende Chancen in Fällen, in denen frühere Versionen oder autographe Originale für einen Textvergleich mit vom Autor publizierten Briefen zur Verfügung stehen. Es wäre sehr wünschenswert, wenn diesbezüglich gründliche, systematische Forschung betrieben werden würde. Auch ein systematischer Vergleich des editorischen Vorgehens verschiedener Briefautoren würde wertvolle Ergebnisse zutage fördern. Schließlich zur dritten Frage, ob Unterschiede in den Stellungnahmen zu politischen und religiösen Themen zwischen den Briefen und dem übrigen publizierten Werk eines Autors dingfest gemacht werden können. Diese Frage erscheint mir in mehrfacher Hinsicht problematisch. Ich glaube nicht, dass die Annahme richtig ist, dass der Brief als solcher ein rein privates oder vornehmlich privates Medium ist. Man könnte diesbezüglich einen Unterschied zwischen vom Autor veröffentlichten und unveröffentlichten Korrespondenzen machen. Aus den veröffentlichten Korrespondenzen lässt sich, wie aus den meisten Beiträgen in dieser Konferenz hervorging, kein klarer Unterschied zu den politisch-religiösen Statements des übrigen Werkes ablesen. Im Fall unveröffentlichter Korrespondenzen tritt das Problem hervor, dass in der neulateinischen Epistolographie sich der Privatbereich und

der neulateinische brief als quelle politisch-religiöser

15

der öffentliche Bereich meist nicht klar voneinander trennen lässt. Es ist wohl kein Zufall, dass man in den Briefstellern die Vermittlung privater und öffentlicher Neuigkeiten über einen Kamm schor, wie es im Übrigen der Briefpraxis entsprach. Ich komme zum Abschluss: Die Konferenz hat auf dem Gebiet der Erschließung historischen Quellenmaterials zahlreiche interessante Ergebnisse zu Tage gefördert. Man darf hoffen, dass der Tagungsband zur weiteren Erforschung der neulateinischen Briefcorpora anregen wird. Es gibt diesbezüglich noch zahlreiche Aufgaben. Unter anderem wird es sinnvoll sein, die Medialität des neulateinischen Briefes jeweils näher in den Blick zu nehmen. Die Annahme, dass uns Gelehrtenbriefe, namentlich neulateinische Gelehrtenbriefe einen direkten Zugang zu historischen Wirklichkeiten liefern würden, erscheint mir fragwürdig. Der Gelehrtenbrief ist ein kompliziertes und hochinteressantes Medium, dessen Wert als Träger historischer Information nur dann näher bestimmt werden kann, wenn seine diskursiven Eigenschaften in gründlichen und systematischen Einzelanalysen jeweils mitberücksichtigt werden.

SPIRITUAL DIALOGUES AND POLITICS IN THE CORRESPONDANCE BETWEEN MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE AND GUILLAUME BRIÇONNET (1521–1524)* Reinier Leushuis (Tallahassee, Fl.) The correspondence between the humanist reformer Guillaume Briçonnet (c. 1470–1534), bishop of Meaux, and the politically influential sister of King Francis I, Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), reflects four years of France’s volatile religious and political state of affairs in the 1520s. Their exchange of a total of 123 letters spans the period from June 1521 until November 1524 and comes to us in a single manuscript, Paris, BnF 11.495, in the handwriting of two successive copyists, with additional later annotations and corrections in a third hand.1 Modern editors agree that Marguerite had her correspondence copied by these two secretaries shortly after, if not simultaneously with the exchange of letters, in a clear effort at preservation. The fact that the manuscript of the second copyist breaks off in mid-sentence, leaving it unfinished, allows for speculation that the correspondence might have continued for a while in 1524, though nothing seems to indicate it lasted much longer than that. 2 For Briçonnet, the recently appointed bishop of Meaux who had already established himself as an active reformer and leader of the Circle of Meaux—a group of French clerics seeking to reform the Church according to evangelical ideals—the exchange of letters with Marguerite provided an ongoing opportunity to gain political support for the budding French reform movement. 3 Briçonnet’s disciples promoted ideals

* I thank Professor Lori Walters for proofreading the text of this essay. 1 See C. Martineau, M. Veissière, and H. Heller, ‘Introduction générale’, in Guillaume Briçonnet, Marguerite d’Angoulême, Correspondance (1521–1524), 2 vols (Geneva 1975), 1–5. 2 Martineau, Veissière, and Heller, ‘Introduction générale’, 2–3. 3 For much of the following information, we have benefited from the scholarship of Martineau, Veissière, and Heller, ‘Introduction générale’, 1–5; H. Heller, ‘Marguerite of Navarre and the Reformers of Meaux’, in Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 33 (1971), 271–310; V.-L. Saulnier, ‘Marguerite de Navarre aux temps de Briçonnet. Étude de la correspondance générale (1521–1522)’, Première partie, in Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 39 (1977), 437–478; and Deuxième partie,

18

r einier leushuis

similar to those of other early sixteenth-century reform movements, such as the importance of the vernacular translation of the Scriptures, the ethical integrity of the clergy, and an emphasis on salvation by faith. Yet by no means did they put forth a militant call for action in the Lutheran manner: the sermons of Briçonnet and his allies such as Lefèvre d’Étaples, Michel d’Arande, and Guillaume Farel advocated a reform from within the Church, based on a theological perspective that relied heavily on the Scriptures as well as on the mystical writings of Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite. At the same time, it is undeniable that the theologians of the Sorbonne virulently attacked Briçonnet’s evangelism, which they saw as dangerously close to Lutheran beliefs and that, in turn, the bishop incessantly sought to strengthen his political ties with the court. In 1520, the latter still expressed sympathy for his ideals and protected his followers, some of whom were employed as almoner or as chaplain of Marguerite herself. Yet this relationship between court and Meaux reformers was of a fragile and oscillating nature: Francis I varyingly supported or denounced the reformers according to strategic and political motivations based on the various successes and failures of his foreign policy in Italy, as well as the degree to which he sought to antagonize or reconcile the popes, who considered Briçonnet a heretic. For Marguerite, then still duchess of Alençon, Briçonnet’s letters served as religious counseling that provided her with spiritual support. The sister of the king was then, and would remain even after 1525, a faithful protector of French evangelicals. Yet unlike her brother, her sympathy towards the reformers surpasses political motivations and reflects a genuine interest in their scriptural theology: her initiative to correspond with Briçonnet is undeniably elicited by a need for spiritual guidance based on the gospel. Triggered by the departure of her husband, Charles d’Alençon, with Francis’s armies, Marguerite’s letters express worldly anxieties in troubled times of war, diplomacy, church politics, aristocratic marriages (including her own), and health issues, which are reworked by Briçonnet into long-winded spiritual in ibid., 40 (1978), 7–47; M. Veissière, ‘En écho à « Marguerite de Navarre aux temps de Briçonnet »’, in Mélanges sur la littérature de la Renaissance à la mémoire de V.-L. Saulnier (Geneva 1984), 189–195, and M. Veissière, ‘Ce que croyait Guillaume Briçonnet, évêque de Meaux’, in J.-P. Bardet and M. Foisil (eds), La vie, la mort, le temps. Mélanges offerts à Pierre Chaunu (Paris 1993), 643–656. See also L. Febvre, Amour sacré, amour profane. Autour de l’Heptaméron (Paris 1944), 90–131, and P. Jourda, Marguerite d’Angoulême, Duchesse d’Alençon, Reine de Navarre (1492–1549). Étude biographique et littéraire (Paris 1930), 65–99.

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

19

discourses, the influence of which on Marguerite’s later development as an evangelical poet is irrefutable. 4 Various scholars have underlined the correspondence’s place at this significant intersection of politics and religion, and emphasized its exchange of spiritual direction for political advocacy. 5 Barbara Stephenson even describes the relationship between the two correspondents as one of pure ‘patronage’, in which the frequency of Briçonnet’s letters was determined by the political potential for religious reform. 6 This argument, however, does not do full justice to the genuinely affective nature of the bond between the correspondents, which is to a certain extent reminiscent of the humanistic amicorum absentium sermo (a conversation between absent friends) Erasmus describes in his 1522 De conscribendis epistolis .7 Within the general framework of humanist letter writing Judith Rice Henderson has outlined, this exchange certainly reflects characteristics of the learned correspondences of the time, in particular the self-conscious effort with which Marguerite had it copied and published. 8 As Jean-Philippe Beaulieu underscores, this is a clear manifestation of a humanist need to orchestrate the correspondence’s material in view of an audience, a Republic of Letters in which it sought to participate, in this case through a staging of an exercise in spiritual reflection and evangelical persuasion for the benefit of the third party reader. 9 As an exchange of humanist letters on the boundary between private and public, formal and informal interaction, Laurel Carrington finally shows how their correspondence is also proof of a newfound space for female participation in the learned community that letter-writing in the vernacular provided. 10

4 For this issue, see in particular Heller, ‘Marguerite of Navarre and the Reformers of Meaux’, 281–292 and R. Cottrell, The Grammar of Silence. A Reading of Marguerite de Navarre’s Poetry (Washington DC 1986). 5 See Febvre, Amour sacré, amour profane , 106–108; and Jourda, Marguerite d’Angoulême, 94–99. 6 B. Stephenson, The Power and the Patronage of Marguerite de Navarre (Burlington, VT 2004), 149–169 (esp. 154–155, 157–160). 7 In Collected Works of Erasmus 25, ed. J.K. Sowards (Toronto 1974), 20. 8 J. Rice Henderson, ‘On Reading the Rhetoric of the Renaissance Letter’, in H.F. Plett (ed.), Renaissance-Rhetorik, Renaissance Rhetoric (Berlin 1993), 143–162 (esp. 143–147). 9 J.-Ph. Beaulieu, ‘Postures épistolaires et effets de dispositio dans la correspondance entre Marguerite d’Angoulême et Guillaume Briçonnet’, in J.-Ph. Beaulieu (ed.), Le simple, le multiple: la disposition du recueil à la Renaissance , Études françaises 38 (2002), 43–54 (esp. 45). 10 L. Carrington, ‘Women, Rhetoric, and Letter Writing. Marguerite d’Alençon’s Correspondence with Bishop Briçonnet of Meaux’, in M. Meijer Wertheimer (ed.),

20

r einier leushuis

At the same time, however, we should not overlook this correspondence as an idiosyncratic dialogical universe of mystical language and spirituality that goes beyond the formal and rhetorical strategies of humanist letter writing in an Erasmian vein. After all, with respect to the epistolary balance between the contributors, Briçonnet’s letters occupy more than 80% of the total text: whereas Marguerite letters tend to be relatively short requests for spiritual aid and encouragements to Briçonnet to continue his part, the latter’s responses are long expansions on a few single words or metaphors employed by Marguerite. In highly convoluted and heavy-handed prose, piling one subordinate clause on the next, Briçonnet twists and turns his discourse in a complex fusion of metaphorical imagery, paradoxes, word-plays, and contradictions. Critics agree that this excessive and contorted theological amplificatio serves the purpose of immerging the interlocutor in spiritual language. 11 While Marguerite asks for biblical explanation and instruction, Briçonnet emphasizes that human and rational language is a faulty instrument to express divine reality, in line with the belief of Lefèvre d’Étaples and other mystics that the pursuit of reason in theology is antithetical to religious insight. In doing so, moreover, Briçonnet neutralizes himself as a human agent incapable of interpreting the divine. 12 The peculiarity of this correspondence is that, in spite of its rather forbidding style and uneven dynamics, it is an ongoing, four-yearlong epistolary exercise. Therefore, it clearly reflected a need of both interlocutors: of Marguerite to consume this language and of Briçonnet to produce it. Incidentally, this reinforces V.-L. Saulnier’s early hypothesis that Marguerite had these letters copied for the purpose of establishing a portable breviary that she could read at her own convenience.13 But more importantly we should underline its dialogical spirituality in epistolary form: 14 in a constant going back and forth of metaphorical language and paradoxes, of thirst for divine under-

Listening to Their Voices. The Rhetorical Activities of Historical Women (Columbia, SC 1997), 215–232 (esp. 215–218). 11 Febvre, Amour sacré, amour profane , 108–118; Jourda, Marguerite d’Angoulême, 95; Beaulieu, ‘Postures épistolaires’, 47, 53; Carrington, ‘Women, Rhetoric, and Letter Writing’, 222–223. 12 Heller, ‘Marguerite of Navarre and the Reformers of Meaux’, 277–279. 13 V.-L. Saulnier, ‘Marguerite de Navarre aux temps de Briçonnet’, Première partie, 454. 14 See also Beaulieu, ‘Postures épistolaires’, 53–54.

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

21

standing vs. recognition of human humility, and, as we shall see, in the staging of an affective bond between the interlocutors, this correspondence practices pastoral evangelism aimed at religious experience rather than at divine understanding. The correspondence is thus reminiscent of a textual dialogical universe such as the one Petrarch creates between St Augustine and himself in the Secretum. There are striking parallels not only between Petrarch’s desire for divine knowledge, embodied in Augustine, and Marguerite’s need for the bishop’s wisdom, but also in the way both father figures keep reminding their interlocutors of their own human inadequacy, resulting in a dialogical process that emphasizes the experience of faith, rather than the attainment of divine knowledge. 15 In the following, I will seek to contribute to the understanding of this epistolary exchange by highlighting its dialogical shaping of an affective bond between the correspondents and I will demonstrate in particular how over the course of their correspondence both letterwriters develop a metaphorical filial kinship, transforming an imagined father/daughter bond into a highly efficient mother/son affiliation. I will then attempt to shed light on the correspondence’s extensively elaborated metaphors of carnal and spiritual fertility and address how they enrich this mother/son theology. Finally, I will reconsider their correspondence within the time’s political and religious context. * ** Marguerite signs some of her very first letters as ‘la toute vostre fille’ (your daughter entirely),16 expressing her need for guidance in matters of faith by a spiritual or confessional father, a practice not uncommon 15 For the Augustinian influence in this Correspondance, see below. The dialogical pattern of a thirst for divine knowledge and counseling in spiritual matters is replicated in Marguerite’s first major poetic text, the Dialogue en forme de vision nocturne . In it, the spirit of her deceased niece Charlotte, through whom we hear the voice of Briçonnet, appears to Marguerite in her sleep and engages her in a spiritual dialogue. For the echos of Petrarch’s Secretum in this text, see my ‘Dialogue, Self, and Free Will: Marguerite de Navarre’s Dialogue en forme de vision nocturne and Petrarch’s Secretum’, in Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 66 (2004), 63–83. 16 Guillaume Briçonnet, Marguerite d’Angoulême, Correspondance, 1: 25, 30, 49. This edition by Christine Martineau, Michel Veissière, and Henry Heller will be used for all quotes from the Correspondance. In the following, volume and page numbers from this edition will be indicated between brackets in the text. All English translations are my own, with occasional use of the translations provided in Carrington (‘Women, Rhetoric, and Letter Writing’) and Stephenson ( The Power and the Patronage of Marguerite de Navarre ).

22

r einier leushuis

in other female spiritual writers of the medieval and early modern period, such as Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila. 17 Although she will continue this staging of herself as a humble daughter until letter 17, Briçonnet instantly admonishes her for this practice: in line with the bishop’s evangelical tendency to neutralize human agency, which is incapable of interpreting the divine, he reminds her sharply that ‘De Dieu seul estes fille et espouze. Aultre pere ne debvez reclamer’, urging her ‘que luy soiez [. . .] si bonne fille qu’il vous est bon pere’ (You are daughter and spouse of God alone. You ought not claim any other father’ [. . .] ‘that you may be [. . .] as good a daughter to Him as He is a father to you) [I, 32]. A few letters later (letter 9), he starts to reshape Marguerite’s suggestion of kinship into one of a motherly nature that he couches in a metaphor of fecundity: ‘Comme mere, avez reveillé vostre subtille filz, en luy subministrant [vi]ande fecunde’ (As mother, you have awakened your discerning son in providing him with rich meat) [I, 48], wherein the rich meat she provides him with is proof of the fecundity of her letters. Not only does he specifically mention that this fecundity motivated him to write abundantly in spite of a bad case of the flu that had caused him to lose his voice, but we also see a fertile amplificatio of theological ideas at the content level: in his typical manner, the bishop picks up just one element from a letter of Marguerite, the comparison of herself to a wandering lamb in search of spiritual pastures, that he then develops over two letters into a long exegetical discourse distinguishing the four lambs symbolizing Christians in four different stages of spiritual quest and salvation. Finally, Briçonnet at once links this first instance of a mother/son image to political protection through Marguerite’s motherhood, asking her to extend her motherly charity to his requests for reform of his diocese [I, 48]. In letter 18 of 22 December 1521, Briçonnet converts their bond into a mother/son affiliation at a deeper theological level, a transformation that is triggered by a series of elements in Marguerite’s short letter 17. In it, Marguerite’s signature vostre pauvre fille shows that she still considers Briçonnet a spiritual father whose words are the concrete translation in human language of the divine Logos (a point of view that, as we have seen, Briçonnet had tried to reverse): ‘Et me doint [donne] sa grace entendre et sentir sa parolle escripte en vostre

17 See S. Noffke’s ‘Introduction’ in Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York 1980), 4–5, and A. Weber, Teresa of Avila and the Rhetoric of Femininity (Princeton, NJ 1990).

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

23

lettre’ (And may God give me His grace to understand and to feel His word written in your letter) [I, 75]. She asks moreover to have more of the fire, water, and manna that his epistles represent for her, fire symbolizing the all-consuming fire of God’s charity, water the message of the gospel, and manna the spiritual food for the soul. In his reply, Briçonnet begins by stressing the reciprocal fertilizing and nourishing effect of their letters through a paradox: ‘Madame, c’est pour satisfaire à voz lettres, affamé(e)s et plaines toutesfois de nouvelles et substantificque fecundité’ (Madam, it is to reply adequately to your letters that are both famished and full nevertheless of news and substantial fecundity), suggesting that her hunger for spiritual food fertilizes his theological thinking, a fertility he instantly reformulates as a motherly one: ‘par vos excuses stimulez maternellement’ (through your apologies you inspire maternally) [I, 77]. In other words, the traditional image of the nourishing mother is paradoxically inverted into a hungry one giving birth to a son and fertilizing in him her own nourishment. This fertilization then manifests itself mimetically at the level of this letter’s content: limiting himself to the most life-giving of the three elements, water, Briçonnet operates a long amplificatio of the waters of God’s grace into a series of biblical and spiritual images of water as a force of renewal and growth: the water that carried the child Moses; the waters of the Deluge, the three rivers of purgative, illuminating, and perfecting water; the gift of the tears of charity; the sacrament of baptism, the water turned into wine at the wedding in Cana, etc. In order to further understand the dialogical theology of mother and son in this epistle, let us heed a significant reference to St Augustine. Briçonnet starts his discussion of water with a reference to Augustine’s idea of tears as a form of purgative water that allows us to cleanse our sins. Distinguishing them from the tears we shed out of fear for hell and damnation, he states that these joyful tears are produced by our love of God: Le don des larmes, que Monsieur sainct Augustin a moult requis et demandé, qui vient du centre et non de la circonference, est grant grace de eaue purgative de peché . Ceux qui sement en larmes recueilleront en joie et exaltacion [. . .]. Amour est excitative de larmes purgatives de peché, non pour les larmes, mais pour l’amour qui les provocque [. . .] larmes chaudes, amoureuses sont celles qui plaisent à Dieu et qui refectionnent l’ame [. . .]. [I, 80] 18 18 ‘The gift of tears, that Mr. saint Augustine called for and demanded so insistently, and that comes from the center and not from the circumference, is the great grace of the water that purges sin. Those who sow in tears will harvest in joy and exaltation

24

r einier leushuis

That this is the single reference to Augustine in the entire correspondence should not only not surprise us, since many evangelicals tended to avoid patristic texts to favor Scripture as the only sacred text, 19 but it should also not make us forget that Briçonnet’s hermeneutics are deeply Augustinian, even if coated in the mystical terminology of the Pseudo-Dionysius. According to Robert Cottrell, Briçonnet in his epistles elaborates a Dionysian/Augustinian mechanics of signification in language, whereby the human word, verba, or la parolle, a ‘sign’ of divine matters (res) given to us through the incarnation of Christ, the Word that has become Flesh, is ultimately annihilated and silenced in favor of a Tout-Verbe, the divine silence. 20 While I disagree with Cottrell’s conclusion that Briçonnet ultimately seeks to reach an annihilating and self-effacing language, and urges Marguerite to do the same (see below), it is undeniable, even if not obvious from textual references, that Briçonnet was a keen reader of Augustine. I would like to argue that St Augustine plays in the background of this epistolary exchange in yet another, equally implicit but significant manner, namely by recalling the famous tears that Augustine’s mother Monica incessantly sheds in his Confessiones. Briçonnet’s insistence on the purifying power of grace inducing tears (‘telles larmes [qui] sont purgatives et excitatives de grant grace’ (Such tears [that] are purgative and induce great grace) [I, 80]) are strongly reminiscent of Monica’s tears, irrigating the earth in grief over her son’s sinful life (‘lacrimas eius, cum profluentes rigarent terram sub oculis eius in omni loco orationis eius’),21 making her son realize, at his tearful departure for Rome in Book V, that her tears would only dry when the divine waters of grace took over (‘usque ad aquam gratiae tuae, qua me abluto siccarentur flumina maternorum oculorum quibus pro me cotidie tibi rigabat terram sub vultu suo’), 22 and that ultimately lead to his con[. . .]. Love generates tears that cleanse sin, not simply because they are tears, but as a result of the love that calls them forth [. . .] warm and loving tears are those that please God and restore the soul [. . .].’ 19 See Cottrell, The Grammar of Silence , 12 (n. 10). 20 See Cottrell, The Grammar of Silence , 11–33 (esp. 19–33). 21 Confessiones 3, 11. For the Latin, see Saint Augustine, Confessions, edition and translation P. de Labriolle (Paris 1961), 60 (‘her tears which poured forth down to wet the ground under her eyes in every place where she prayed’, 49). For the English, I use the translation by Henry Chadwick (Oxford 1991). In the following, the work will be cited by book, number, and page (for Latin and for English). 22 Confessiones 5, 8, 104 (‘This water was to wash me clean, and to dry the rivers flowing from my mother’s eyes which daily before you irrigated the soil beneath her face’, 81).

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

25

version to the Christian God (‘matrem oculis meis interim mortuam, quae me multos annos fleverat, ut oculis tuis viverem ’).23 Moreover, these positive and purifying tears Augustine himself had come to shed abundantly, e.g. at his conversion scene (‘et dimisi habenas lacrimis, et proruperunt flumina oculorum meorum’)24 and at his baptism (‘et currebant lacrimae, et bene mihi erat cum eis’). 25 The intersection in this epistle of the reference to Augustine’s tears that recalls Monica’s motherly crying, causing the spiritual conversion of her son (moreover the only direct reference to the name of the Church Father in the entire correspondence), Briçonnet’s affirmation of the bond between Marguerite and himself as a fertile mother/ son kinship, and finally the mimetically expansive treatment of the theological importance of fecund water (of which Augustine’s tears of charity are the very starting point and that continues far into the next letter, clearly taking priority over Briçonnet’s discussion of the other two aspects, fire and manna), has not been noticed by critics so far, and deserves further attention. 26 First, it allows us to revisit the relationship between the correspondents and the nature of their dialogical spirituality in epistolary form. Shortly after the reference to Augustine, Briçonnet most significantly urges Marguerite to shed rivers of tears over the blinding sins of the world, ‘Helas, Madame, larmoiez et plourez (en demandant torrens de larmes)’ (Alas, Madame, weep and cry [by calling forth streams of tears]) [I, 81]. 27 He thus portrays her, right at the beginning of his long theological amplificatio on the purifying force of water, as a redeeming Monica, cleansing and illuminating souls through the flow of her tears. In other words, it suggests that Marguerite’s tears elicit and

23 Confessiones 9, 12, 235 (‘the mother who had died before my eyes who had wept for me that I might live before your eyes’, 176). 24 Confessiones 8, 12, 199 (‘[. . .] and I let my tears flow freely. Rivers streamed from my eyes [. . .]’, 152). 25 Confessiones 9, 6, 220 (‘[. . .] tears ran, and it was good for me to have that experience’, 164). 26 Concerning the mother/son kinship, see however the examples of spiritual mother/son bonds among the German mystics of the Rhine Valley of which V. Mellinghoff-Bourgerie cites the possible influence (‘L’échange épistolaire entre Marguerite d’Angoulême et Guillaume Briçonnet: discours mystiques ou direction spirituelle?’, in N. Cazauran and J. Dauphiné (eds), Marguerite de Navarre 1492–1992. Actes du colloque international de Pau (1992) ([Mont-de-Marsan 1995]), 135–157, esp. 139–141). 27 He repeats this exhortation in letter 36 of 6 March 1522 (‘Oubliez vous, Madame, en oraison et gectez torrens de larmes ’, [I, 181]).

26

r einier leushuis

mimetically fertilize Briçonnet’s theology and accordingly stage him as a new Augustine. Like the Church Father, who called himself the son of Monica’s tears, filius istarum lacrimarum,28 Briçonnet is reborn in the correspondence with his crying Marguerite and thus capable of producing his theology. I believe that Briçonnet implicitly but consciously orchestrated this epistle so as to recast relatively early in their correspondence the relation between Marguerite and himself from the traditional hierarchy of a patriarchic authority and a yearning daughter in need of spiritual guidance, into a more mutual and fertile bond reminiscent of Monica and Augustine, whereby theology and spirituality, like the Church Father’s, are a product of a fertilizing mother/ son kinship. Although Marguerite seems at first unwilling to sign with her new title, in spite of Briçonnet’s insistent references to himself as her ‘son’ (see e.g. I, 174, 229), his strategy is eventually successful, and the mother/son bond is continued throughout the exchange in numerous references to maternal support, filial recognition, and in signatures such as ‘vostre [vielle/indigne/pauvre/inutille] mere’ and ‘vostre [inutil] filz’ (your [old/undeserving/poor/worthless] mother’ and ‘your [worthless] son) [see e.g. II, 11, 16, 33, 34, 39, 51, 64, 71, 77, 91, etc.]. Secondly, the Augustinian mother/son affiliation established in letter 18 takes on meaning in the political context of Church reform. To be sure, in his long exposition on water Briçonnet only recalls the spiritual aridity of the corrupted Church: L’Eglise est de present aride et sèche comme le torrent en la grand challeur australe. La challeur d’avarice, ambicion et voluptueuse vie a deseché son eaue de vie, doctrine et exemplarité. Tel vent est dissipatif et dessicatif de toute grace. Ung chacun serche son prouffict et honneur [. . .]. Et ce procede par faulte d’eaue de sapience et de doctrine evangelicque qui ne court et n’est distribuée comme elle deveroit. [I, 85] 29

But given the earlier exhortation to Marguerite to weep abundantly, which constitutes the starting point of this exposition, the implication is again that she stands as a potentially powerful mother reinvigorating through her tears the new Church promoted by her spiritual son. Confessiones 3, 12, 63 (‘the son of these tears’, 51). ‘The Church is currently arid and dried out like the river in the desert’s great heat. The fervor of avarice, ambition, and carnal life has dessicated its vital water, doctrine, and exemplarity. These winds dissipate and dry out all grace. Each and everyone seeks his own gain and honor [. . .]. This is caused by the lack of water of wisdom and evangelical doctrine, which does not flow and irrigate as it should.’ 28 29

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

27

The figure of Marguerite as mother of the reformed Church is further reinforced in letter 42 of 18 September 1522, where Briçonnet speaks of several of her ‘children’, referring to the reformers at Meaux, that she attracts like a hen under her wings (‘les attirant comme la poulle soubz la protection des helles maternelles’ [I, 217] [‘attracting them like the hen under the protection of her maternal wings’]), and most strongly in letter 47 of November-December 1522, in which Briçonnet thanks her for considering himself and his brother, fellow-reformer Denis, as adoptive sons: Parquoy, Madame, je vous supplie y aller à satisfaire vous et voz subtilles enfans, vous merciant très-humblement et de tout mon coeur de la grace qu’il vous a pleu faire d’en adopter ung, la servitude duquel en promptitude d’amour filiale feroit oublier celuy qui a procuré l’adoption sy oubliance tumboit en amour maternelle. Tous deux [Denis and Guillaume] vous seront, s’il vous plaist, à jamais viscerallement recommandés. [I, 229] 30

* ** This mother/son spirituality in a dialogical epistolary form that Briçonnet and Marguerite adopt warrants consideration against the background of several extensively elaborated metaphors of fertility. As Ehsan Ahmed and others have shown, these form part of Briçonnet’s strategies to address spiritually Marguerite’s repeated concerns about female sterility in general and the barrenness of her marriage to Charles d’Alençon in particular.31 For instance, in letters 34 of 26 February 1522 and 70 of 25 October 1523, Briçonnet transforms Marguerite’s anxieties on bodily sterility into spiritual fertility, suggesting that she can acquire

30 ‘Wherefore, Madame, I beg you to proceed therein to the satisfaction of you and your able children, thanking you very humbly and with all my heart for the grace it has pleased you to have in adopting one, whose servitude in the quickness of filial love would cause him to forget the one who obtained the adoption if forgetfulness fell into maternal love. Both of us will always be, if it pleases you, viscerally commended to you.’ For a possible link to the status of ‘adoptive sons’ that the Briçonnet brothers enjoyed in an earlier correspondence with Sister Arcangela Panigarola of the Augustinian Saint Martha convent in Milan, see Mellinghoff-Bourgerie, ‘L’échange épistolaire entre Marguerite d’Angoulême et Guillaume Briçonnet’, 141–142. 31 E. Ahmed, ‘Speaking the Unspeakable: Sterility and Infidelity in the Correspondance of Marguerite de Navarre and Guillaume Briçonnet’, in R. Leushuis and Z. Zalloua (eds), Esprit généreux, esprit pantagruélicque. Essays by His Students In Honor of François Rigolot (Geneva 2008), 95–111; Carrington, ‘Women, Rhetoric, and Letter Writing’, 228.

28

r einier leushuis

spiritual plenitude from her infertile state. 32 In letter 33, Marguerite’s depiction of herself as environnée d’espines: ‘Mais aydez l’environnée d’espines’ (But relieve the one surrounded by spines) [I, 164] is understood by Briçonnet as an image of a barren woman and developed, in letter 34, into an effusive dissertation on the fertilization of mankind by God (‘le grant et seul laboureur et semeur’ (the sole great laborer and sower) [I, 166]), through the birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary, and the fertilization of the human soul by the divine Logos: ‘seulle semence bonne, qui est le Verbe divin, le doulx Jesus party pour se semer en l’entendement de nature humaine, laquelle, en recevant et conservant la semence fructiffie à bien’ (the sole good seed, which is the Holy Word, sweet Jesus departed from this life to sow his seed in the understanding of human nature, which, in receiving and conserving this seed, fructifies to its own improvement) [I, 168]. It is striking that in this same letter Briçonnet posits himself as her son, who, paradoxically, is happy with her physical barrenness, ‘vous avez ung filz maupiteux qui est joyeulx que sa bonne mere soit environnée d’espines [. . .] car [. . .] ne seriez capable de la semence du doulx Jesus’ (you have a pitiless son who is joyous that his good mother is surrounded by spines [. . .] since [. . . otherwise] you would not be able to [receive] the seed of sweet Jesus) [I, 174]. In other words, it allows him, Briçonnet, to impregnate Marguerite so to speak with the seeds of Christ ‘so that she can flourish spiritually’.33 Finally, in this letter Marguerite’s spiritual fertilization is also repeatedly extended to Church reform, implying that through her political power she can renew the doctrine of the Church that had become barren and sterile. Marguerite’s signature as ‘vostre sterile mere’ (your sterile mother) [II, 67] in letter 69, dating from after 14 October 1523, is yet more powerfully elaborated by Briçonnet into spiritual fecundity through a series of biblical examples. Starting with an oxymoronic construction in the style of the Pseudo-Dionysius—‘Bien est à desirer la stérilité féconde et fécondité sterile [. . .] plus est plaine et plus sterile, plus feconde et ne peult que par sterilité estre feconde , produisant fruitz immortelz de immortalité conceuz’ (It is good to desire the fruitful sterility and sterile fecundity [. . .which] the fuller it is, the more sterile it is, the more fertile, and cannot be fecund but by sterility, producing immor-

32 33

Ahmed, ‘Speaking the Unspeakable’, 104–105. Ahmed, ‘Speaking the Unspeakable’, 104.

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

29

tal fruits conceived of immortality) [II, 67]—the bishop suggests that physical sterility is productive of spiritual fertility, i.e. the emptiness of the body becomes the fullness of the soul. Briçonnet first adduces the Old Testament examples of Sarah and Elisabeth who after a long period of infertility finally gave birth to two luminaries of the Church, Isaac and John the Baptist, and culminates with the example of Mary giving birth to her son Jesus. These last three examples of course further strengthen the mother/son symbolism established in the reference to the tears of Augustine. Marguerite’s sterility is thus, in a paradoxical but reciprocal dynamics, impregnated by Briçonnet’s spirituality while simultaneously giving birth to this new Church Father as her son, and fertilizing his words, as Mary the gospel. The dynamics of reciprocal spiritual fertilization and birth-giving gain importance toward the middle and end of the correspondence where they enrich the epistolary and dialogical mother/son affiliation in religious and political affairs. In letter 51 of January 1523 Briçonnet reiterates that Marguerite has given birth to him spiritually through an infertile body that has to (figuratively) die in order to give birth to the child of the soul: Par esperit seullement m’avez engendré (vous suppliant parcroistre vostre fruict) et mesmement que ce seroit ruyner vostre generation spirituelle qui ne peult subsister avec le sentiment du corps, les deux sont incompatibles et necessairement l’un doibt mourir en la naissance de l’autre. Vostre adoption m’est trop cher [. . .]. Tous enfans doibvent essaier (sy non approcher) ne se esloingner des coeurs de leurs peres et meres. [II, 19–20] 34

Briçonnet urges her to complete her fertile work—‘parcroistre vostre fruict’ (make your fruit grow)—which could refer both to his own creation of spiritual theology and to the Church reform, all the more since at the end he reiterates the adoption image he had used for himself and his brother, and refers to children in the plural, recalling Marguerite’s adoptive motherhood for the reformers of Meaux from letters 42 and 47. In letter 56 of June 1523, moreover, the mother/son fertilization is specifically linked to the issue of language. Briçonnet once more 34 ‘From pure spirit you have begotten me (imploring you to make your fruit grow) and just as it would be ruining your spiritual offspring that cannot survive with bodily experience, the two are incompatible and necessarily one has to die in the birth of the other. Your adoption is most dear to me [. . .]. All children have to endeavor to (if not accomplish) not to drift away from the hearts of their fathers and mothers.’

30

r einier leushuis

reaffirms the fecundity of her letters for his thought (‘la fecundité par luy [Dieu] donnée en vos lettres, desquelles luy a pleu par vous me donner alyment vital’ (the fecundity given by Him in your letters, of which it has pleased Him to give me vital nourishment through you) [II, 37]) and is content that his good mother enjoys her son’s stammering and stuttering more than she would well-spoken language: ‘Me instruisant par icelle que ne doibz craindre à begayer, prenant la bonne mere plus de plaisir et passetemps au begayement filial quant cuyde bien parler et ne sçait qu’il dict que quant il est en perfection d’aage’ (Teaching me that I should not dread to stammer, since the good mother derives more pleasure and enjoyment from her son’s stuttering than she would if he tried to speak well and does not know what he is saying until he has grown up) [II, 37]. The crucial reformist belief in the necessary deficiency of human language to express the divine Logos, the former being but stammering compared to the latter, is embedded here in the mother/son affiliation. Yet this also marks a revealing limitation: even if Briçonnet had alluded earlier to Mary’s fertilization of the divine Logos through the birth of Jesus, he does not go as far as to explicitly impose this image on his bond with Marguerite, which ultimately remains human and earthly. This is clearly suggested in the remainder of the letter when Briçonnet uses the image of the bird’s nest to describe their maternal bond: ‘comme oyseaulx au nict [. . .], actendons tousjours l’ayde paternelle, ouvrant le bec pour recevoir l’alyment spirituel, qui est luy se donnant à ses petitz’ (like young birds in a nest [. . .], we always wait for paternal sustenance, opening our beaks to receive spiritual nourishment, which consists in him giving himself to his offspring) [II, 37]. He distinguishes between the terrestrial mother/son babble, demarcated in its own intimate space through the image of the nest, and the true, divine Logos which is ultimately paternal because coming from God (‘l’Esperit, qui est l’amour paternelle’ (The spirit, which is paternal love) [II, 37]). Finally, to give but one example of how their filial kinship bears on the politics of Church reform, we should mention letter 94 of April 1524 in which Marguerite calls to mind their mother/son bond to lament her incapacity to ease the political predicament (le pressouer) in which Briçonnet finds himself in attempting to reform the Church: Mais maintenant que je vois le pressouer où vous estes sy peu aidé, que seul porte(z) l’ennuy de plusieurs, crainte affectionnée que cest amer et impetueux torrent ne vous donne tant d’occasion corporelle et, que plus

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

31

je crains, sustraction des spirituelles consolacions, me contrainct à sentir que c’est que mere. Car pour avoir eu le corps sterille n’en suis privée des doulleurs qui me tourneroient à joye grande sy, après la peine, povois y aider selon mon desir . [II, 143] 35

In this passage, she implies that the political support she desires to give but is powerless to provide, would have equaled the joy of a spiritual birth coming forth out of physical sterility, a state of mind that makes her sign this epistle most significantly as ‘vostre desolée mere’ (your inconsolable mother) [II, 143]. In summary, the merging of, on the one hand, a consciously operated shift from an imagined father/daughter bond into an mother/son kinship reminiscent of Augustine and Monica, and, on the other hand, the series of extensively elaborated metaphorical dynamics of bodily and spiritual fertility, creates a dialogicity in epistolary form, where in a double movement the imagined or adoptive son Briçonnet spiritually impregnates through language the sterile mother Marguerite, while the latter fertilizes and gives birth to her son and his spiritual theology through her letters and the motherly tears her son exhorts her to shed. Some concluding remarks concerning the implication of this epistolary mother/son dialogue for the correspondence’s place at the intersection of politics and religion are warranted. Let us reconsider to that effect letter 79 of 31 January 1524: after another elaborate exposition on spiritual fecundity, Briçonnet first evokes how Marguerite had called herself his true mother and then, in a series of complex paradoxes, reiterates the mutual fertility of their mother/son bond for the production of theological truth: ‘Le tiltre [‘vraye mere’] est moult noble, qui m’a fort pleu. Joyeulx, et plus le desirant que le soiez, à la verité fecunde fructiffiant en et pour verité, ou elle par et pour vous, vous conformant à luy en vraye fecundité’ (The designation [‘true mother’] is very noble, and has greatly pleased me. Joyous, and even more desiring that you be [joyous], at the fecund truth fertilizing in and on behalf of truth, or she [truth] through and on behalf of you, you who are conforming to Him in true fecundity) [II, 100]. Both

‘But now that I see the predicament in which you find yourself and in which you receive so little help, even though carrying the worries of many, the affectionate fear that this bitter and fierce torrent causes you so many bodily failings, and, as I fear more, the deprivation of spiritual consolation, forces me to feel what it is like to be a mother. Since, while having had a sterile body, I am not deprived of the suffering that would turn to my great joy, if, after the pain, I could assist you as I would like.’ 35

32

r einier leushuis

the ambiguity of the grammatical subject of fructiffiant (Marguerite or Briçonnet?) and the doubled prepositional constructions ( en/pour and par/pour) create an undoubtedly intentional fusion, whereby truth, presumably Briçonnet’s theology, is both fertilized by Marguerite in Briçonnet and by Briçonnet in Marguerite. First, these paradoxical and reciprocal dynamics remind us that at the level of religious experience their bond seeks to practice a pastoral evangelism aimed at religious experience rather than at divine understanding. While some critics believe, as indeed the heavily PseudoDionysian influence of Briçonnet’s theology seems to suggest,36 that the bishop’s goal is to urge Marguerite to withdraw from the world into a spiritual elevation and self-effacement in mystical union with God,37 I would argue that, at another level of interpretation, the symbolic mother/son fertilization suggests a more human and earthly dialogical space (symbolized by the bird’s nest metaphor with its stuttering young that we discussed earlier), namely a continuous and ongoing epistolary exercise in theology that perpetually and dialogically reinvents itself in a process of regeneration and begetting of spiritual language and experience. This leads for both Marguerite and Briçonnet to a sense of losing themselves in ignorance, esgarement, i.e. in an illusive search for divine truths. Yet this erring should clearly be positively interpreted as a very human activity of continuous spiritual wandering, a paradox Briçonnet eagerly dwells on in letter 79: [. . .] ne suis esbahy sy en desirant vous vidimier à vostre original, ou luy vous attirant pour vous collationner à luy, estes esgarée ygnorante . Vostre esgarement, comme escripvez, qui plus s’esgare moins est esgaré et qui n’est esgaré l’est très-fort , qui plus s’oublie et se pert moings s’esgare, doulce et desirée est de tel esgarement l’ignorance surmontant toute science. [II, 103] 38

For the influence of the Pseudo-Dionysius on Briçonnet’s theology, see Heller, ‘Marguerite of Navarre and the Reformers of Meaux’, 275–277, and in particular Mellinghoff-Bourgerie, ‘L’échange épistolaire entre Marguerite d’Angoulême et Guillaume Briçonnet’, 143–148. 37 Cf. Cottrell’s mechanics of signification whereby understanding of divine matters is ultimately a dissolving into divine silence (see above, footnote 20). 38 ‘[. . .] I am not amazed if, in the desire to affirm yourself in relation to the original truth, or in drawing yourself closer to it in order to conform yourself to it, your are lost in ignorance. Your bewilderment, as you write, the one who goes astray the most is the least led astray, and the one who is not lost is most strongly lost, the one who is oblivious of himself and loses himself is less led astray, sweet and desirable is of such confusion the ignorance that surpasses all knowledge.’ 36

spiritual

dialogues and politics in the

correspondance

33

The more you lose yourself, e.g. in a continuous immersion in the paradoxical spirituality produced by their correspondence, the less you are ultimately lost, since you dwell in a sweet and desirable ignorance that is worth more than reaching knowledge ( science). Second, at the level of political support, Marguerite as vraye mere is clearly posited as a symbolic mother fertilizing Briçonnet’s reformed evangelical Church: the paradoxical mutual fertility of their mother/ son bond in the passage on the vraye mere as quoted above [II, 100] is instantly compared to the fertility of the incarnation in a vocabulary emphasizing the reforming effects of evangelical truth that should refertilize the Church through its ministers: [. . .] le doulx Jesus restituant le trebuchement de son ymaige, la regenerant par foy en enfans de Dieu , les amenant en sa gloire par la consumacion de sa mort et passion en fecundant par benediction la sterillité maudicte, la provignant en la vraie vigne du grant laboureur, qui ne dort ne sommeille, continuellement travaillant en et par ses ministres , prolificans pour luy nouvelle feture par semence de verité evangelicque et ne cessans, soit en paix ou tribulacion, bonne ou maulvaise renommée, que l’imaige ne soit restituée et au doulx Jesus seulle Verité, reformée, innovée et uniffiée. [II, 100] 39

This evangelical idea is then bluntly and rather harshly reformulated in an outspoken request urging Marguerite, as well as the king and his mother, to appoint the appropriate Church ministers: 40 Je vous supplie, Madame, procurer pour l’advenir l’honneur de Dieu en l’election et choiz de ses ministres , sy tost ne voullez encourir l’ire et indignacion de Dieu, qui est presente sy n’y pourvoiez. Vous direz « le temps n’est propre ». Il est tousjours saison de bien faire. Ung bon edifficateur ne bastist pour demolir. Sy desirez que l’Eglise recongnoisse son estat et profession et soit reduicte à sa verité, comme sçay que Dieu vous en donne à tous trois le voulloir , qu’il acompaigne de sçavoir et ‘[. . .] Sweet Jesus repairing the fall of his image, regenerating it through faith in God’s children, carrying them in his glory through the fullfilment of his passing and suffering, fecundating through his benediction the cursed sterility, layering it in the true vineyard of the great laborer, who neither sleeps nor slumbers, incessantly operating in and through his ministers, engendering for Him new matter through the seed of evangelical truth, and never ceasing, be it in peace or in uproar, good or bad report, until the image is restored and to sweet Jesus [given back] the sole Truth, reformed, restored, and unified.’ 40 The political background of the Concordat of Bologna (1516) has to be kept in mind. This agreement between Pope Leo X and the French King Francis I granted the latter the right to make appointments for high-ranking Church officials such as archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors. 39

34

r einier leushuis pouvoir, pourvoiez, comme les places des capitaines vacqueront, telz y estre mis qu’il ne faille non seullement les demolir mais puissent en nostre Seigneur vous conforter et ayder à executer vostre sainct vouloir. [II, 105]41

* ** The preceding analysis has shed light on some of the idiosyncrasies that help us understand this remarkable early modern correspondence as going far beyond a straightforward exchange of spiritual direction for political advocacy between two eminent representatives of Church and royal house during troubled times of religious and political tensions in the French kingdom. Through their correspondence’s dialogical transformation of an imagined father/daughter bond into a spiritual mother/son affiliation, and its accordingly elaborated metaphors of a reciprocal spiritual fertility, Marguerite and Briçonnet not only gave birth to their own early modern version of a motherly inspired spirituality reminiscent of St Augustine’s Confessiones, but moreover deliberately cultivated an idiosyncratic dialogical space in epistolary form, an intimate ‘bird’s nest’, detached from the outside world’s political and religious turmoil, that allowed them to shape their own unique joining of spirituality and Church reform in early modern correspondence.

41 ‘I entreat you, my lady, to procure for the future the honor of God through the appointment and choice of his ministers, if you prefer not to incur before long God’s wrath and indignation, which will be manifest when you fail to attend to this matter. You will say “the time is not right”. It is always the right season to do good. A good builder does not build to demolish. If you desire that the Church recognize its predicament and profession and be brought back to its truth, as I know that God has given to all three of you the will, to which He adds knowledge and power, see to it, when the posts of Church captains become vacant, that those [ministers] be appointed who not only prevent them from being cancelled, but who can in the Lord support you and help you in the execution of your holy will.’

ERASMUS AND THE PHILOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Chris L. Heesakkers (Leiden)* One of the intriguing monographs dedicated to Erasmus in recent decades is saliently entitled ‘Erasmus Man of Letters’. 1 Although what has survived of his certainly immense correspondence is less extensive than for instance that of his compatriots Lipsius or Grotius, it seems to be superior to those as a literary monument and as a mirror of cultural, religious, political and social life of its age. Among his 666 correspondents we find five popes, two emperors, sixteen kings and princes, dozens of cardinals, bishops and abbots and a large network of scholars.2 A connoisseur such as Caspar Barlaeus considered it his favourite literature.3 Erasmus was himself aware of its importance. He had four letters published in 1515, written to Pope Leo X, two cardinals and his countryman Dorpius, to which we will have to return

* For the proofreading of my English, I am greatly indebted to Dr. J.P. Ward (Vlaardingen). The following abbreviations to refer to Erasmus’ works are used below. ASD: Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (Amsterdam 1969–); CWE: Collected Works of Erasmus (Toronto 1976–); LB: Desiderius Erasmus, Opera omnia, J. Clericus (ed.) (Leiden 1703–1706); Holborn: H. Holborn and A. Holborn (eds), Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, Ausgewählte Werke (Munich 1933; 19642); Ep.: Erasmus’ letters, followed by volume and letter number in the edition of P.S. Allen, Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami (Oxford 1906–1958). 1 L. Jardine, Erasmus Man of Letters. The Construction of Charisma in Print (Princeton, NJ 1993). 2 Cf. L. Voet, ‘Erasmus and his correspondents’, in J. Sperna Weiland and W.T.H. Frijhoff (eds), Erasmus of Rotterdam. The Man and the Scholar (Leiden 1988), 195–202; C.L. Heesakkers, ‘Erasmus epistolographus’, in C. Berkvens-Stevelinck, H. Bots, and J. Häseler (eds), Les grands intermédiaires culturels de la République des Lettres. Etudes sur les réseaux de correspondances du XVI e au XVIII e siècles (Paris 2005), 29–60. 3 Cf. K. van der Horst, ‘A “Vita Casparis Barlaei” written by himself’, in Lias 9 (1982), 57–83 (p. 68): ‘Quoties a gravioribus studiis animam remittere vellet ad lectionem Epistolarum Erasmi se conferebat; non solum quod eruditis tanti viri commentationibus caperetur, verum quia volupe illi erat ex earundem Epistolarum lectione, et Erasmi cum Monachis, Leo, Beda, Stunica, Dorpio, doctoribus Lovaniensibus, Parisiensibus conflictatione praesentis seculi imaginem recognoscere, et in Reformatis nonnullis monachalem impudentiam, maledicentiam et persecutionum studia observare.’

36

chr is l. heesakkers

presently.4 They would be followed by eleven other collections, which should help to shape the image which he wanted to achieve in the eyes of his contemporaries and posterity, of his personality, his works and his place in his age. Erasmus’ own editions contain about twelve-hundred letters. 5 The editors of the marvellous Opus Epistolarum, P.S. and H.M. Allen and H.W. Garrod, extended this number with about two thousand other letters. The total of the letters Erasmus wanted to be known to the reading public and those he presumably did not wish to be published, makes the correspondence a monumental ego-document, which is of essential help to understanding—at least to a certain degree—Erasmus’ life, his spiritual development, his ideas, his ideals, and his influence. What holds for the Greek motto of Dürer’s portrait of Erasmus, ‘The better part of him will become visible in his works’, holds pre-eminently for his Opus Epistolarum. However, as regards the biographical facts, one should always be aware that they are presented as seen and evaluated by the author himself. Although the letters of the first volume, which runs till July 1514, rarely carry a complete date, P.S. Allen has given all of them an approximate date and chronological order, and made them a trustworthy instrument to follow—in the words of Dick Schoeck—‘The growth of a humanist’s mind and spirituality’, and—in the words of Jozef IJsewijn—his development ‘Ex poeta theologus’, from a poet into a student of theology at Paris, and finally from a scholastic theologian, a Scotista, as Beatus Rhenanus noticed in his letter to Charles V, into a biblical theologian. 6

4 Iani Damiani Senensis ad Leonem X. Pont. Max. de expeditione in Turcas Elegia [. . .] Erasmi Roterodami Epistola ad Leonem X [. . .] Martinum Dorpium Hollandum Epistola Apologetica de suarum lucubrationum aeditione (Basel: Froben, 1515). 5 For a description of these editions, see Allen’s Opus epistolarum (above n.*), 1, 599–602; L.-E. Halkin, Erasmus ex Erasmo: Érasme, éditeur de sa correspondance (Aubel 1983). 6 Cf. R.J. Schoeck, Erasmus Grandescens. The growth of a Humanist’s Mind and Spirituality (Nieuwkoop 1988); J. IJsewijn, ‘Erasmus ex poeta theologus sive de literarum instauratarum apud Hollandos incunabulis’, in J. Coppens (ed.), Scrinium Erasmianum (Leiden 1969), 375–384; Allen 1, p. 58, l. 65, Beatus Rhenanus to Charles V: ‘Ergo Scotista factus est, in collegio Montis agens.’ Erika Rummel used the subtitle ‘From Philologist to Theologian’ for her book Erasmus’ Annotations on the New Testament (Toronto-Buffalo-London 1986). Still, Erasmus continued to be a philologist in his New Testament studies.

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

37

Fig. 1. Hendrik Hondius, Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus , engraving 1599. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PK-P-124.049

38

chr is l. heesakkers

Fig. 2. Desiderius Erasmus, Letter to Franciscus Craneveldius (24 December 1525). Catholic University Leuven, Central Library, Litt. vir. erud. ad F. Cran., ep. 172 (Allen 6, 1655)

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

39

Erasmus’ correspondence, apart from the first three letters, as well as his poetry, starts in about 1487, the year in which he entered the monastery of the Augustinian canons in Steyn near Gouda. There he found a Deventer schoolmate who described to him the monastery as a virecta Musarum, a paradise of the Muses. He praised ‘the saintly life, the abundance of books, the free time, the tranquility, the angelical company.’ Erasmus read together with him ‘within a few months in secret nightly sessions the main authors’, and enjoyed the charming company of his peers, with whom he sung, played and held poetical contests.7 He wrote his first letters, in 1487–1488, to his conterraneus and fellow conventual, Servatius Rogerius Roterodamus, for whom he conceived a great sentimental affection. Yet, he obviously was unable to win this Rogers for the service of the Muses, notwithstanding his lavishly scattered quotes from ancient authors. Letters by Rogers from those years have not survived. 8 More important are the fifteen letters exchanged in 1489 with the elder Cornelius Aurelius. He lived in a monastery of the same order near Leiden, and was addressed by Erasmus as poeta et theologus (Ep. 1, 17). A first joint product of their friendship was a poem with the programmatic title: A defence taken up by Erasmus and Cornelis in the form of a sorrowful dialogue, directed against the barbarous persons who scorn the eloquence of the ancients and deride learned poetry .9 The poem suggests that criticism and envy, livor edax, had forced Erasmus to stop writing poetry. 10 This might imply that not everybody was happy with Erasmus’ enthusiasm for the cult of the ancients and

7 Ep. 2, 447, l. 317–318: ‘dixisses illic esse non monasterium, sed virecta Musarum’; Allen 1, p. 50, l. 84–86: ‘Hic suum agens negotium coepit mira loquentia depingere vitae genus sanctissimum, copiam librorum, otium, tranquillitatem, sodalitatem angelicam’; Ep. 2, 447, l. 347–348: ‘ut intra paucos menses praecipuos autores absoluerent furtiuis ac nocturnis congressibus’; l. 352–356: ‘Arridebat puero aequalium grata sodalitas. Canebatur, ludebatur, certabatur versiculis: non adigebatur ad ieiunium, non excitabatur ad cantiones nocturnas: nemo monebat, nemo obiurgabat, fauebant et arridebant omnes.’ Even as a schoolboy, Erasmus’ hunger for reading was insatiable, cf. Allen 1, p. 2, l. 31–33: ‘interminantibus etiam magistris furtim e libris, si quid forte nactus fuissem, hausi quod potui; calamum exercui, prouocatis sodalibus quibuscum decertarem.’ 8 Ep. 1, letters 4–9, 11, 13, and 15 are addressed to Rogers; Roterodamus is added in Ep. 1, 4, and he is appointed to as conterraneus in Ep. 1, 3, l. 32. 9 CWE 85: C.H. Miller and H. Vredeveld (eds), Poems, 182–197, no. 93: Apologia Herasmi et Cornelii sub dyalogo lamentabili assumpta adversus barbaros qui veterem eloquentiam contemnunt et doctam poesim derident . I quote the title as translated by C.H. Miller. 10 CWE 85, Poem 93, 6–7; cf. Ep. 1, 19, l. 5–6.

40

chr is l. heesakkers

his imitation of their poetry. Aurelius took him under his protection with references to the quotes from Homer by the biblical authors Paul and Luke and the Church Fathers Jerome and Leo. 11 In an appended poem, Aurelius introduced Jerome as an arbitrator, Hieronymus loquitur. Jerome does not condemn the cult of ancient poetry, as long as its admirers do not deride pious people who are not yet familiar with it, and as long as they study equally or even more, Sacred Scripture, nor does he reject the use of the Aegipti Vasa to build a beautiful chapel for the Lord. Jerome concludes with a line that must have pleased an Erasmus in bivio: ‘Ornet Musa stilum, scriptura paret tibi sensum’ (Let the Muse adorn your style, let Scripture provide you the meaning). 12 This line seems to expound perfectly Erasmus’ further life and ideal: to put the gifts of the Muses, the knowledge of ancient culture and the philological means to acquire it, for the benefit of the sacred writings. Jerome will be his model and guide on this road. 13 It may be clear that this poetical dialogue is closely linked with Erasmus’ Antibarbari, written in the same period, when he was not yet nineteen years old, Nondum annum vigesimum attigeram, as he would make us believe. 14 To mention two details: first, the Antibarbari had originally been written as an oration from Aurelius’s mouth, orationem tuam.15 Secondly, the topic of the Aegyptia supellex, returns, now extended, in the footsteps of Augustine, to the classical philosophers, as does the adornment of the Christian church with the pagan treasures, Christianorum templum ethnicis opibus exornare.16 Some time later—he described himself as hardly twenty—Erasmus wrote a remarkable eulogy about the monastic life, a Laus vitae monasticae, on behalf of someone who wanted to convince a young man to

CWE 85, Poem 93, 58–64; cf. Ep. 1, 20, l. 45–49, l. 65–66 (‘Apologeticum’). CWE 85, 364–367, Poem 135, 18–19: ‘Aegipti fulgida tollens/Vasa’; 135, 33: ‘Ornet Musa stilum, scriptura paret tibi sensum.’ For ‘Aegipti vasa’, cf. CWE 86, 580, n. 174. 13 Cf. Ep. 1, 149, l. 53–54: ‘Mihi placet hac ingredi quo me diuus Hieronymus cum pulcherrimo tot veterum coetu vocat’; Ep. 2, 373, l. 15–16: ‘toties monent et Hieronymus et Augustinus.’ 14 ASD I-1, 35, l. 17–18, and Ep. 4, 1110, l. 20. 15 Ep. 1, 30, l. 16–17. 16 ASD I-1, 116, l. 21–117, l. 15, with reference to Augustine, De doctrina Christiana 2, 40, 60; p. 129, l. 17–18; cf. Ep. 1, 49, l. 94–96: ‘Neque improbauerim Aegyptiam adhiberi supellectilem; verum totam Aegyptum transferri non placet’; cf. also E.-W. Kohls, Die Theologie des Erasmus (Basel 1966), vol. 1, 35–37 (Die Tradition des Topos ‘Spoliatio Aegyptiorum’), with notes, vol. 2, 56. 11 12

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

41

join a religious order. 17 He published the work after thirty years, with slight changes to the original, pauculis verbis immutatis, and with the title De contemptu mundi epistola (Leuven 1521). He counted it under the declamationes in his letter to Botzheim. 18 It starts with the traditional chapters about the dangers of the world, but then revealing chapters follow such as De felicitate vitae solitariae , Solitarios duplici tranquillitate gaudere and De voluptate vitae solitariae . In his peroration, Erasmus quoted Jerome’s exclamation that he felt himself among the monks in the desert as if he was happily singing among the angels.19 He emphasized the voluptas peculiaris the erudite monks found in reading the probatissimi autores, from the biblical authors and the Church Fathers to the Scholastic Thomas and Albertus and even to mulier illa barbara, sed vultu honestissimo (80, 104), the ancient philosophers and poets. Moreover, they enjoyed the pleasure of their own writing, aut ipsi legenda scribunt (80, 94). ‘To live in this deepest tranquility, in this summit of liberty, free from any worry, isn’t that living in the paradise of delights? ’, An non id est delitiarum paradisum incolere ? (80, 92–110). Even if the work is a declamatio, it is hardly credible that Erasmus could write such a text to convince a young man to enter a monastery, when he himself had not happily enjoyed those delights. 20 Aut ipsi legenda scribunt (80, 94). Erasmus’ pleasure and satisfaction in his own writing is evident. And he is very productive. His poetry, exchanged with Aurelius and his former Deventer schoolmate and fellow monk Willem Hermans and others, continues to increase. As Vredeveld concluded, it peaked in the winter and spring of 1490–1491. 21 Several years afterwards, Erasmus would publish in Paris a collection of poetry written by Hermans. 22 When he lost a beloved patron in Gouda, the pious widow Bertha de Heyen, he wrote an edifying, almost hagiographic Oratio funebris, which shows evident affinity with 17

2–7.

Allen 1, p. 18, l. 16–19: ‘admodum iuuenes, vix annos nati viginti’; cf. p. 37, l.

ASD V-1, 39, l. 15; Allen 1, p. 18, l. 5. ASD V-1, 80, 87–89. 20 Even in 1529, Erasmus suggested that he would like to live among pious monks, if his physical condition would allow it; cf. Responsio ad epist. Alberti Pii, LB 9, 1102F: ‘Nullos ego magis veneror nec inter vllos magis liberet viuere quam inter eos qui vere mortui mundo viuunt secundum regulam euangelicam, nisi haec corporis imbecillitas redderet me ad omnem hominum conuictum inutilem.’ 21 Vredeveld in CWE 85, p. xx: ‘Erasmus’ poetic output, as we have seen, peaked in the winter and spring of 1490–1.’ 22 In 1496; cf. Ep. 1, 49. 18 19

42

chr is l. heesakkers

Jerome’s letter De Vita Nepotiani. He added two epitaphs to it, which include obvious references to a poem by Prudentius. 23 The letter to Aurelius, which refers to those works, includes an important statement about the new orientation of Erasmus’ writings: ‘I have decided, in accordance with your so benign admonition, to write from now on nothing that will not emit the scent of the eulogies of the saints or of sainthood itself.’ This turn to a more religious work is also traceable in his poetry. 24 Erasmus confirmed his entry into the clergy by receiving the priesthood in 1492. Yet, he became aware that Steyn was not the place to realize his new ideals. He accepted a position at the court of the bishop of Cambrai, Hendrik van Bergen, with whom he hoped to travel to Rome. But this plan was soon cancelled and he was permitted to start a study in Paris of the theology quam scholasticam vocant.25 This turned out to be Scotism, but the Scotists ‘denied that the mysteries of theology could be understood by someone who had even the slightest interest for the Muses and the Graces. If you have had any contact with the good literature, you have to unlearn it.’ 26 Much more serious was Erasmus’ innuendo that Scotism was an obstacle to reading the New Testament. In the dedicatory letter of his Adagiorum collectanea, June 1500, he suggested to his pupil and patron Lord Mountjoy, that he should have a look at the letters of the Apostles, assuming ‘that Scotus does not have you that firmly in his grasp, that you do not want to touch these letters.’ 27 The import of this suggestion, that Scotistic theology and New Testament studies were incompatible, was the more far reaching, because every reader of the printed Collectanea would eventually see it. 23 Cf. Ep. 1, 28, l. 14–16; for the affinity of the Oratio with Jerome’s De vita Nepotiani, cf. my ‘Neo-Latin Academic Funeral Oratory and Poetry in the Low Countries (First Jozef IJsewijn Lecture, Louvain, 27 September 2006)’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 56 (2007), 1–49; for the reference to Prudentius, Cathemerinon 10, see CWE 86, 687–688. 24 Ep. 1, 28, l. 8–10: ‘Veruntamen nihil posthac (quandoquidem id me tam benigne mones) condere statui, quod non aut sanctorum praeconia aut sanctitatem ipsam redoleat.’ For its date, see Vredeveld, CWE 86, 687. 25 Ep. 1, 48, l. 22–24; Allen 1, p. 58, l. 64. 26 Ep. 1, 64, l. 77–80: ‘Negant huius disciplinae mysteria percipi posse ab eo cui quicquam omnino commercii sit cum Musis aut cum Gratiis. Dediscendum est, si quid bonarum literarum attigeris’; cf. the contraposition of the Muses and Scotus in Colloquia, ASD I-3, 412, l. 22–24. 27 Ep. 1, 126, l. 183–184: ‘Qunque in apostolicis litteris (neque enim vsque adeo Scotus te capit, opinor, vt has non attingas).’

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

43

Yet, Erasmus considered himself well prepared for a doctor’s degree after a three years stay in Paris (1498). To add more prestige to the degree, it should be received in Italy, more specifically in Bologna.28 The crucial question was to find a maecenas who was willing to finance the journey. Since Erasmus could not count on his parsimonious bishop, he asked his friend Battus, to intercede for him with his patron, Lady Anna van Borsselen, and he supplied him with the arguments he could use to convince her. It is worthwhile to quote some lines of it here: You must write her . . . that the doctor’s degree can nowhere be earned with more prestige than in Italy, but that Italy is unreachable for a refined man without ample financial means; all the more so, because it is incompatible with my scholarly reputation, however modest it is, to live in too straitened circumstances. You must make it clear to her how far the honor I will bring her with my writings will surpass the honor she may derive from the other theologians she supports. For they preach everyday commonplaces, but my writings will live forever. Their unlearned babble will be heard in one or two churches, but my books will be read by both Latinates and Greeks all over the world. You must write her that that kind of theologians are a dime a dozen, but my equal will be found only once per many centuries. (I hope, dear Battus, that you are not so conscientious that you cannot permit yourself some white lies for the benefit of a friend). Finally, you must make it clear to her that she will not be any the poorer if she contributes some guilders to the reparation of Jerome’s so heavily damaged works, and to the restoration of True Theology, while so much of her wealth is wasted on the most improper purposes.29 28 Ep. 1, 139, l. 31–32: ‘Nec vsquam doctoris titulum rectius accipi posse quam in Italia’; Ep. 1, 145, l. 105–108: ‘Quam ad rem duo quaedam pernecessaria iamdudum sentio, alterum vt Italiam adeam, quo scilicet ex loci celebritate doctrinulae nostrae nonnihil autoritatis acquiratur; alterum vt Doctoris nomen mihi imponam. Ineptum quidem vtrunque’; Ep. l. 75, 13–23; for Erasmus’ attempts to have his trip to Italy, cf. C.L. Heesakkers, ‘Twenty-Third Annual Birthday Lecture: Erasmian reactions to Italian Humanism’, in Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook Twenty-Three (2003), 25–66, in particular 34–39. 29 Ep. 1, 139, l. 28–45: ‘Tu vero scribes . . . Nec vsquam doctoris titulum rectius accipi posse quam in Italia, nec Italiam ab homine delicato posse adiri sine summa vi pecuniae; maxime quod mihi ob literarum qualemcunque opinionem sordidius viuere ne liceat quidem. Ostendes quanto amplius ego sim meis literis decus Dominae allaturus quam alii, quos alit, theologi. Nam illi vulgaria concionantur; ego scribo quae semper sint victura. Illi indocte nugantes vno aut altero in templo audiuntur; mei libri a Latinis, a Graecis, ab omni gente toto orbe legentur. Eiusmodi indoctorum theologorum permagnam vbique esse copiam, mei similem vix vnum ex multis seculis inueniri; nisi forte adeo superstitiosus es, vt religio tibi sit in amici negotio mendatiolis aliquot abuti. Deinde ostendes nihilo illam pauperiorem futuram, si vt Hieronymus

44

chr is l. heesakkers

Indeed, Erasmus seems not to be troubled with lack of self-confidence as a theologian. More important is the specification of the project Anna is asked to support, that is, the reparation of the works of Jerome and the restoration of the True Theology, vt Hieronymus iam deprauatus, [. . .] vt vera Theologia instauretur. In a letter to Anna he repeated his devotion to the purification of the vetus theologia and again emphasized the necessity of an Italian degree to assure him of the recognition of the theologians. 30 Unfortunately, Anna would soon fall in love, whereas Battus and the bishop would die (1502). Consequently, Erasmus could not travel to Italy. Instead, he prepared his first work of textual criticism, an edition of Cicero’s De officiis, for the press. 31 He started his biblical studies with a commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans, but soon discovered that ‘it was complete madness ( dementiam extremam) to study the mysteries of theology without knowing Greek.’ And the same was true for his work on the text of Jerome. 32 So Erasmus hired a Greek teacher and made translations from Greek into Latin in view

iam deprauatus, si vt vera Theologia instauretur, aliquot aureis adiuuerit, quum tanta ex illius opibus turpissime pereant.’ Cf. Heesakkers, ‘Erasmian reactions’, 37–38. For Erasmus’ early plans to promote the interest for the works of Jerome, cf. Ep. 1, 141, l. 16–34 (‘Flagrat iam olim mihi incredibili ardore animus Hieronymianas epistolas commentariis illustrandi [. . .]’). 30 Erasmus already carried these plans with him for some time; cf. Ep. 1, 138, l. 39–48: ‘Hieronymi, in quem commentarios paro’; l. 44–48: ‘Incredibile dictu est quam mihi flagret animus omnes nostras lucubratiunculas ad vmbilicum ducere, simul Graecae facultatis mediocritatem quandam assequi, itaque deinde me totum arcanis literis dedere, ad quas tractandas iamdudum mihi gestit animus.’ The vetus theologia is described (Ep. 1, 145, l. 99–104, and 108–114) as ‘non sordidatam, non pannosam, qualis nunc visitur in ludis sophistarum.’ 31 Ep. 1, 151, l. 16: ‘Annotationes scripsi in Officia Ciceronis; is propediem excudetur’; Ep. 1, 152, Introd., about the rare copies of Officia Ciceronis solertissima cura Herasmi Roterdami ex multis exemplaribus exactissime castigata ; Ep. 4, 1013, l. 74–75: ‘quos [viz. libros] olim emaculatos tibi dicaui.’ 32 Ep. 1, 149, l. 21–26: ‘Video dementiam esse extremam, theologiae partem quae de mysteriis est praecipua digitulo attingere, nisi quis Graecanica etiam sit instructus supellectile, cum ii qui diuinos vertere libros, religione transferendi ita Graecas reddant figuras, vt ne primarius quidem ille quem nostrates theologi literalem nominant, sensus percipiatur ab iis qui Graece nesciunt’; Erasmus added an example, Psalm 50:4, to prove that the Latin text was not understandable unless the Greek was consulted; Ep. 1, 181, l. 31–34: ‘Quanquam ante triennium ausus sum nescio quid in epistolam Pauli ad Romanos, absoluique vno quasi impetu quatuor volumina; progressurus ni me quaedam auocassent; quorum illud praecipuum, quod passim Graeca desyderarem.’ For Jerome, cf. Ep. 1, 139, l. 143–150; Ep. 1, 141, l. 37–38: ‘quantum in illo antiquitatis, quantum Graecarum literarum’; Ep. 1, 149, l. 56–68.

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

45

of his biblical studies. He even suggests that his juvenile language studies had always served this goal. 33 Erasmus made a significant discovery in an abbey near Leuven in 1504. He found a manuscript of his admired Valla, who had done, be it on a modest scale, precisely what he had himself proposed to do: explain and/or correct the Latin of the Vulgate by collating it with the Greek original. Valla’s manuscript proved that it was possible and necessary to improve and restore the Latin Vulgate. Although Erasmus foresaw criticism because of Valla’s controversial name and the delicacy of the subject, he made the manuscript ready for publication and gave it, on his way from Leuven to England, to Badius in Paris, who printed it in 1505. 34 Erasmus’ project retreated into the background during his travel to Italy, where he received his degree in theology as soon as he had arrived in Turin on 4 September 1506. 35 He stayed in Florence and Bologna, from where he asked Aldus Manutius to print his translations of Euripides, but—typically Erasmus—he could not resist expressing his wonder at why Aldus, editor of so many Greek texts, had not yet published an edition of the Greek New Testament. 36 Soon afterwards, he travelled to Venice, where Aldus printed his huge Adagiorum Chiliades.37

33 Cf. Ep. 1, 164, l. 43–53: ‘atque vt intelligant calumniatores quidam qui summam existimant religionem nihil bonarum litterarum scire, quod politiorem veterum litteraturam per adolescentiam sumus amplexi, quod vtriusque linguae, Graecae pariter ac Latinae, mediocrem cognitionem non sine multis vigiliis nobis peperimus, non ad famam inanem aut puerilem animi voluptatem spectasse nos, sed multo ante fuisse premeditatos vt dominicum templum, quod nonnulli inscitia barbarieque sua nimis dehonestarunt exoticis opibus pro viribus exornaremus, quibus et generosa ingenia possent ad diuinarum scripturarum amorem inflammari.’ For the translation of Euripides, cf. ASD I-1, 216, l. 3–5 (= Ep. 1, 188, l. 1–3): ‘Quum in animo statuissem, Praesul amplissime, vertendis Graecis authoribus rem theologicam, Deum immortalem quam indigne sophisticis nugis deprauatam, pro virili mea vel restituere vel adiuuare.’ 34 Ep. 1, 182, l. 6–8: ‘Sed deterrebat non nihil quum vetus illa Laurentiani nominis inuidia, tum hoc argumentum multo in speciem inuidiosissimum.’ See also Ep. 1, 183, Badius’s anticipation of possible criticism with a reference to Augustine’s observation that the biblical languages could shed light on each other’s obscurities. 35 Cf. Heesakkers, ‘Erasmian reactions’, 43, n. 55 and 56. 36 Ep. 1, 207, l. 16–19: ‘Demiror quid obstiterit quo minus Nouum Testamentum iampridem euulgaris, opus (ni me fallit coniectura) etiam vulgo placiturum, maxime nostro, id est Theologorum, ordini.’ 37 Cf. Heesakkers, ‘Erasmian reactions’, 46, n. 68, and Adagia, 2001 (ASD II-5, 23–41): ‘Herculei labores.’

46

chr is l. heesakkers

This book made Erasmus a highly esteemed scholar, whose fame preceded him when he traveled to Rome in 1509. Due to his scholarship, there was no cardinal who, in Erasmus’ words, did not receive him as his own brother. He made acquaintance with five cardinals, among them the future pope Leo X and numerous other ecclesiastical dignitaries and scholars. 38 Among the conspicuous memories of this period are his attendance at a Ciceronian sermon coram papa on Good Friday, and at a bullfight in the Vatican.39 Erasmus hurried back to England as soon as he was informed about the accession of King Henry VIII. Crossing the Alps on horseback (equitando), he conceived the Moriae Encomium. He taught Greek and theology at Cambridge for a while, but soon devoted himself totally to his Jerome and the New Testament. To secure a good reception of Jerome’s works, he sent three letters to Rome in 1515. He summarized the three aspects of his textual criticism: the emendation and correction through the collation of many very old manuscripts, the correction of the mangled Greek and Hebrew phrases, and the separation of spurious works.40 He asked the cardinals Riario and Grimani their advice, for he hesitated whether he should dedicate the work to his maecenas, William Warham, the archbishop of Canterbury, or to Leo X, because the works of the greatest theologian, Jerome, deserved it to be dedicated to the greatest of the popes. His letter to Leo asked his permission to dedicate to him Jerome’s works, with the same argument.41 The publication of the letters in the same year included a fourth letter. Erasmus wrote it to the young theologian Dorpius, who had commented on three recent or forthcoming works. In Erasmus’ words: ‘You deplore the rather unfortunate edition of the Moria, you greatly approve our efforts to restore Jerome, you deter from editing the New

38 Ep. 1, 296, l. 101–109 (cf. Heesakkers, ‘Erasmian reactions’, 53, n. 86); Ep. 2, 334, l. 38–42. 39 Ciceronianus, ASD I-2, 637–639; Ep. 11, 3032, l. 417–433. Cf. Heesakkers, ‘Erasmian reactions’, 52–53 and n. 85. 40 Ep. 2, 333, l. 64–75 (to Raffaele Riario); Ep. 2, 334, l. 99–135 (to Domenico Grimani); Ep. 2, 335, l. 268–290 (to Pope Leo X). 41 Ep. 2, 333, l. 92–95; Ep. 2, 334, l. 145–148; Ep. 2, 335, l. 333–336: ‘et pulchre quadrauerit vt primus Christianae religionis Doctor eiusdem religionis Antistiti summo dedicetur, et optimus omnium theologus omnium optimi Pontificis titulo commendetur.’ Actually, although Leo X accepted the promise, the work was dedicated to Warham after all, Ep. 2, 396.

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

47

Testament.’42 Seventeen pages of Erasmus’ reply concern the Moria, and the letter has therefore been included in most of its countless editions and translations. As regards the New Testament, Dorpius rejected the use of Greek manuscripts to correct the Latin Vulgate. He could not believe that the Latin Vulgate contained mistakes, for otherwise the whole Church would have erred for centuries and would still do. The Church Fathers and theologians used it, and the infallible decrees of the General Councils were based on it. Furthermore, the Latin Church had preserved its text better than the Greek, whose religion was erroneous in several points. Why then trust more on the Greek manuscript than the Latin ones? When Augustine used Greek manuscripts, it was because the Vulgate was not yet available, and the Greek sources were probably not yet so much spoiled. 43 Erasmus kindly disclaimed Dorpius’s arguments and announced that his New Testament consisted of three components, a new Latin version, a Greek text alongside it, and a separate volume of Annotations.44 Dorpius’s criticism may have given Erasmus an idea about which kind of complaints his work could expect. To anticipate this, he had the work preceded by a dedicatory to Pope Leo X, and three other expositions.45 Froben in Basle finished the printing of the Novum Instrumentum omne, diligenter ab Erasmo Roterodamo recognitum et emendatum in February 1516.

Ep. 2, 337, l. 2–4: ‘Deploras Moriam parum feliciter aeditam, studium inrestituendo Hieronymo nostrum magnopere comprobas, ab aeditione Noui Testamenti deterres.’ Dorpius’s letter (c. Sept. 1514) is Ep. 2, 304. 43 Ep. 2, 304, l. 89–92 (‘et in primis. . . dispiciendum est’), l. 98–100 (‘Non enim . . . aeditione’), l. 100–106 (‘Neque . . . in confesso est’), l. 110–118 (‘Quid autem. . . castigata?’), l. 128–131 (‘Atqui . . . verisimileest’). 44 Ep. 2, 337, l. 862–868: ‘Nos vniuersum Testamentum Nouum ad Graecorum exemplaria vertimus, additis e regione Graecis, quo cuiuis promptum sit conferre. Adiecimus separatim Annotationes, in quibus partim argumentis, partim veterum authoritate theologorum docemus non temere mutatum quod emendauimus, ne vel fide careat nostra correctio vel facile deprauari possit quod emendatum est’; cf. Ep. 2, 305, l. 222–224: ‘Superest Nouum Testamentum a me versum et e regione Graecum, vna cum nostris in illud annotamentis’; Ep. 2, 322, l. 25: ‘Emendauimus totum Nouum Instrumentum, additis scholiis.’ 45 Viz. his Paraclesis, Methodus and Apologia. Cf. Ep. 1, 26, l. 37–38: ‘Quin et Nouo Testamento prodituro vnam atque alteram apologiam adiecimus, diuinantes non defuturos qui calumniarentur.’ For a well documented chapter on the reactions to the publication of the Nouum Instrumentum, see E. Rummel, Erasmus and his Catholic Critics 1 (Nieuwkoop 1989), 36–61: ‘The reception of the first edition and preparations for a revision.’ 42

48

chr is l. heesakkers

Erasmus had started the project with the annotations, but the emphasis seems to lie on the Latin translation, although he declared several times that it was added on the instigation of friends. 46 He added a Greek text to serve the reader in order to control the solidity of his emendations. 47 The new translation was meant for the theologians and as private reading, not for the liturgy and the schools. 48 Nevertheless, it was necessarily confronted with the Vulgate, which had an unassailable position in scholastic theology and ecclesiastical life. Theologians and preachers were shocked that even sacred texts such as the Pater noster and the Magnificat were considered susceptible to improvement and correction.49 Erasmus had to defend his choice of sermo instead of verbum in John 1:1 46 Cf. Allen 1, p. 16, l. 9–11: ‘perpulerunt amici docti, quibus aliquoties obsequentior sum quam expedit, vt mutarem etiam aeditionem vulgatam’; Allen 1, p. 64, l. 278–280: ‘Desiderabant studiosi Galliarum et Germaniarum seorsim aedi Nouum Testamentum Graece’, and l. 283–285: ‘Nec deerant qui ipsum Nouum Testamentum elimandum putarent, vulgo Christianorum, vt videtur, scriptum vel potius versum. Et haec monentibus pro sua facilitate paruit [ viz. Erasmus]’; Ep. 2, 421, l. 46–47: ‘Porro cum iam aedendum esset opus, instigarunt quidam vt vulgatam aeditionem mea vel correctione vel interpretatione mutarem’; Exhortationem ad Albertum Pium , LB 9, 1100B; ASD IX, [forthcoming]: ‘Altera culpa mihi communis est cum amicis, qui mea facilitate nonnunquam sunt abusi, protrudentes ad suscipiendum argumentum ad quod tractandum non eram natura compositus, aut quod eius generis esset vt satius fuerit non tractare. Id vsu venit primum in Moria, mox in vertendo nouo testamento, quanquam posterius hoc optimi quique suis calculis approbant, nimirum intelligentes hoc laboris fuisse necessarium ad intelligendos Graecorum commentarios, quorum omnium lectio discrepat ab hac nostra, quae vulgo fertur.’ 47 Cf. Holborn (ed.), Apologia, 170, l. 16–18: ‘Sed primum nostra conferto cum Graecis, quod quo promptius esset, illa e regione adiecimus’; Ep. 2, 337, l. 863–864: ‘additis e regione Graecis, quo cuiuis promptum sit conferre.’ 48 Cf. Holborn (ed.), Apologia, 167, l. 30—168, l. 7: ‘Nos locos aliquot innouauimus, non tam ut elegantius redderemus quam ut dilucidius ac fidelius. [. . .] Quibus haec placet editio [ i.e. The Vulgate], quam ego nec damno nec muto, his sua manet editio. Siquidem ea nostra castigatione non laeditur, sed redditur illustrior, purior, emendatior. Illa legatur in scholis, canatur in templis, citetur in contionibus; nullus obstat. Illud ausim polliceri, quisquis hanc nostram domi legerit, suam rectius intellecturus est’; Apologia adversus debacchationes Petri Sutoris , LB 9, 783D: ‘Qui delectantur sermone puriore, legunt privatim meam Versionem.’ But more elegance should not fall into extreme Ciceronian eloquence, Apologia, Holborn (ed.), 173, l. 28–34: ‘Nos in hoc opere ut non affectavimus eloquentiam, ita munditiem, si qua in promptu fuit, non respuimus. Non offenditur deus soloecismis, at idem non delectatur. Odit superbam eloquentiam, fateor, at multo magis superciliosam et arrogantem infantiam. Nos toleramus istorum balbutiem, ferant ipsi vicissim nostram qualemcunque dicendi mediocritatem.’ 49 Erasmus foresaw such criticism, see his Apologia, ed. Holborn, 169, l. 23–26: ‘Iam quid attinet istos refellere, qui non minus indocte quam impudenter solent vociferari facinus esse non ferendum, ut quisquam corrigat euangelia, castiget canticum, magnificet, mutet precationem dominicam?’; cf. further P.E. Hovingh’s comments to Erasmus’ annotation on those texts in ASD VI-5, 157, l. 126 (to Matthew 6:12), and 465, l. 520–580 (to Luke 1:48); Ep. 2, 541, l. 82–86: ‘actum esse de diuinis literis [. . .]

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

49

with a complete Apologia de In principio erat sermo. More serious were changes that could have dogmatical implications. Erasmus’ preference for remitte instead of dimitte in Matthew 6:12, might undermine the sacramental character of confession, as the choice of mysterium instead of sacramentum in Ephesians 5:32 would do for the sacrament of marriage.50 Notorious was the so-called comma Johanneum, in 1 John 5:7, a pillar of the Trinitarian doctrine, which Erasmus considered to be an interpolation, for it was not found in his Greek manuscripts. It provoked the suspicion of sympathy with Arianism, against which Erasmus had to defend himself for the rest of his life. 51 The criticism of Erasmus’ work, reflected in the large corpus of apologies and in numerous letters, illustrates that his biblical philology hardly had the possibility to avoid Charybdis without smashing into Scylla. However, it did not restrain Erasmus from further biblical studies. Re-editions of his New Testament prove that he was almost continuously reworking parts of it. The second edition returned to the title Testamentum (instead of Instrumentum), but the Latin translation differed much more from the Vulgate than that of the first edition. In the later editions the Latin translation tended to come nearer to the Vulgate which was printed in its entirety alongside Erasmus’ translation in the fourth edition (1527). 52 There were considerable changes in the preliminary texts. The Methodus was elaborated to the extensive Ratio verae theologiae in the second edition and disappeared in the

posteaquam extitissent qui sacrosanctum Euangelium atque adeo ipsam orationem Dominicam emendarint’; Ep. 3, 948, l. 94–117; Ep. 7, 1967, l. 148–158. 50 Cf. H.J. de Jonge, ‘Novum Testamentum a nobis versum: the essence of Erasmus’ edition of the New Testament’, in Journal of Theological Studies 35 (1984), 394–413 (p. 405 and n. 43); cf. ASD IX-2, 210, l. 772–783, with notes. 51 Cf. the criticism of the Parisian Faculty of Theology in Erasmus’ Declarationes ad censuras Lutetiae vulgatas, LB 9, 876C: ‘Perperam autem explicat Paraphrastes, Hi tres unum sunt, distrahendo maximo testimonio fidei de unitate substantiae in tribus Personis, ansam praebens defensionis erroris Arii.’ Cf. H.J. de Jonge, ‘Erasmus and the Comma Johanneum’, in Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses 56 (1980), 381–389; cf. ASD IX-2, 252–258. 52 Cf. Ep. 3, 809, l. 62–65 (1518): ‘Ad haec, in translatione priore parcius mutaui, ne nimis offenderem istorum animos nimium morosos: nunc adhortantibus eruditis viris plusculum hac in parte sum ausus’; and as for the later editions, cf. Erasmus’ Capita argumentorum contra morosos quosdam ac indoctos , LB 6, fol. **4v: ‘Sunt aequiores qui studium hoc meum non damnent quidem, sed indignantur Interpretem, quem tot annis honoravit Ecclesia, alicubi parum civiliter fuisse tractatum. Hac in parte nonnullam agnosco culpam, vel hoc argumento, quod posterioribus editionibus multa sum moderatus.’

50

chr is l. heesakkers

third, as did the Paraclesis in the fourth edition. 53 The Annotations increased with every new edition, as can easily be seen in the reworked facsimile edition by Reeve and Screech 54 and in the available ASD volumes. While the notes of the first edition were mainly philological, the later additions became more and more ideological and sometimes expanded to complete essays. 55 Erasmus had in the meantime started a new biblical project. To defend his free use of the Latin in his new translation of the New Testament he had referred to early Christian poetical paraphrases of biblical texts, such as Iuvencus and Arator, and he concluded that it had not been too daring to renew the biblical text by entirely paraphrasing it, as Jerome had more or less done with the Old Testament. 56 This turned out to have been more than a rhetorical question. In 1517 Erasmus published an entire paraphrase of Paul’s Letter to the Romans, dedicated to Domenico Grimani. Within four years all the apostolic letters where paraphrased and dedicated to cardinals or bishops. Erasmus hesitated about the gospels because that would imply to paraphrase the words of Christ himself. Yet, Cardinal Matthew Schinner, bishop of Sion, convinced him to paraphrase Matthew. 57 Erasmus dedicated this paraphrase to Emperor Charles V. In the next year the other gospels were paraphrased and dedicated to the Kings Francis I, Henry VIII and Ferdinand I respectively. In 1524, the Acts of the Apostles were paraphrased and dedicated to Pope Clement VII. 58 Cf. C. Augustijn, Erasmus. His Life, Works, and Influence (Toronto 1991), 92–93. A. Reeve (ed.), Erasmus’ Annotations on the New Testament , vol. 1 (London 1986); A. Reeve and M.A. Screech (eds), Erasmus’ Annotations on the New Testament , vols 2 and 3 (Leiden 1990 and 1993). 55 For the succinct annotation Erasmus had in mind in the beginning, cf. Allen 1, p. 14, l. 6–7: ‘Nouum Testamentum: in quo decreueram adeo verborum parcus esse, vt statuerim singula loca tribus verbis annotare’; in general, cf. Augustijn, Erasmus, 96–98. 56 Cf. Holborn (ed.), Apologia, 167–168: ‘Quid autem erat periculi, si paraphrasi totam orationem novassemus, id quod propemodum fecit Hieronymus in veteri testamento?’ 57 Allen 1, p. 20, l. 32–34: ‘Post, hortatu Matthaei Cardinalis Sedunensis idem nuper ausi sumus in Matthaeum’; Ep. 5, 1255, l. 24–42; cf. also Ep. 4, 1248, l. 12–14. 58 The dedicatory letters of the Paraphrases are in chronological order: Ep. 3, 710 (Romans, to Cardinal Domenico Grimani), 3, 916 (Corinthians, to Erard de la Marck, prince-bishop of Liège), 3, 956 (Galatians, to the Abbot Anthony de la Marck), 4, 1043 (Timothy, Titus and Philemon, to Philip of Burgundy, bishop of Utrecht), 4, 1062 (Ephesians et al., to Cardinal Lorenzo Campegio), 4, 1112 (Peter and Jude, to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, archbishop of York), 4, 1171 (James, to Cardinal Matthew Schinner, bishop of Sion), 4, 1179 (John, Epistles, to Cardinal Matthew Schinner, bishop of Sion), 4, 1181 (Hebrews, to Sylvester Gigli, bishop of Worcester), 5, 1255 (Matthew, to 53

54

erasmus and the philological study of the new testament

51

According to Erasmus, his Paraphrases were not the product of a comprehensive plan. Each volume had provoked a subsequent one due to its success and the instigation of friends. 59 However, the dedicatory letters give them a particular coherence and religious and political dimension. The first series reminds the ecclesiastical dignitaries of the essence of their responsibility for Christ’s flock. Themselves drinking from the most essential source of their religion, they should lead their Christians to that same source and help them to live according to its message. The second series implies an admonition to the great European monarchs to rule according to the evangelical message of peace, and to guard the Christian society from war and injustice. Seeing that this was a far distant ideal, Erasmus confronted the new pope Clement VII, from the Medici family, with the expectation that he should be the clemens medicus, the lenient physician for the vexed Christianity. 60 Erasmus’ dedicatory letters were a particularly important vehicle to ventilate his ideas and worries about the actual status of Christian Church and society.

Emperor Charles V), 5, 1333 (John, to Ferdinand I), 5, 1381 (Luke, to Henry VIII of England), 5, 1400 (Marc, to Francis I of France), 5, 1414 (Acts, to Pope Clement VII). 59 Allen 1, p. 20, l. 26—21, l. 9: ‘Quin his maiora sum ausus, explicui paraphrasi epistolam Pauli ad Romanos. Mox vbi successus audaciae et amicorum hortatus me subinde longius prouocarent, absoluimus Paraphrases in omnes epistolas Apostolorum. Hoc opus quoniam non perpetuo labore, sed ex interuallis absolutum est, sic vt post vnamquamque portionem absolutam statueremus ab hoc genere temperare, factum est vt praeter morem meum operis summa non sit vni dicata. Post, hortatu Matthaei Cardinalis Sedunensis idem nuper ausi sumus in Matthaeum. Hoc lucubrationis dedicauimus Carolo Caesari, cui scimus industriam nostram fuisse gratissimam. Iam desieram cogitare περὶ τοῦ παραϕρἀζειν, et ecce multis in hoc stadium reuocantibus absolui Paraphrasim in Ioannem, quod is prae caeteris multis difficultatibus remoratur lectorem. Nec hic licuit quiescere: coepit efflagitari Lucas, quod apud hunc multa sint cum nullo Euangelistarum communia, adeo nunquam deerat efflagitandi lemma. Hic labor dicatus est Anglorum regi Henrico, eius nominis octauo. Marcum denique quidam insignis amicus suasit addendum, ne lacuna in media vacans inuitaret aliquem, qui suis admixtis operis integritatem interrumperet. Hoc opus dicatum est Galliarum regi Francisco, eius nominis primo. Restabant Apostolorum Acta, pars Euangelii secundum Lucam. Ea dicauimus Clementi summo Pontifici, huius nominis septimo. Apocalypsis nullo modo recipit paraphrasten. Hic itaque tandem Paraphraseon finis satis felix.’ 60 Ep. 5, 1414, l. 19–29: ‘Sed in primis laetissimum omen mihi visum est gentilitium Medicis cognomen, quo vix aliud orbi vel notius vel gratiosius. Morbi graues ac deplorati insignem aliquem ac fatalem poscunt medicum. Nullus autem periculosior quam quum aegrotus vtraque sui parte laborat, corpore nimirum et animo. An non mundus tali quodam malo nunc teneri videtur? Hi tam exitiales, tam implacabiles, tam diutini, tam immedicales monarcharum inter ipsos tumultus an non videtur grauissimus quidam totius corporis morbus? Quam enim orbis partem videmus immunem ab huius mali contagio? Sed hoc etiam perniciosior est lues haec quae miris ac pertinacibus opinionum dissidiis corripuit animos omnium.’

52

chr is l. heesakkers

Erasmus was deservedly content with his voluminous Paraphrases. ‘Here, I feel like a fish in the water’, he said according to Beatus Rhenanus, and he had written it ‘with high spirits’ (maiori alacritate).61 The work met with general approval from the studiosi and probati 62 viri. It would soon be translated into the vernacular, as he himself had suggested. In England it was ordered in 1547 that every parish church should have a copy, and that the priests without a theological degree should possess a translation. 63 Erasmus did not expect much criticism of the Paraphases.64 Still, criticism did not fail to appear. The first was from the Carthusian Petrus Sutor, in Paris, where Natalis Beda was soon to follow him, and with him the Faculty of Theology of the Sorbonne.65 Notwithstanding Erasmus’ replies to this criticism, the topic returned in his last extensive and vehement controversy with a Catholic opponent, the Italian diplomat and nobleman, Alberto Pio, Prince of Carpi. 66 Allen 1, p. 64, l. 300–303: ‘Paraphrases, [. . .] quas dubium est maiorene studiosorum applausu orbis exceperit an maiori alacritate ipse scripsit. “Hic sum”, inquit, “in campo meo”. Et sic erat’; Ep. 3, 755, l. 5–7: ‘vtinam in eiusmodi campis me semper exercuisse(m)! Malim sexcentas scribere Paraphrases quam vnicam recognitionem.’ 62 Allen 1, p. 64, l. 300–302: ‘Paraphrases, [. . .] quas dubium est maiorene studiosorum applausu orbis exceperit’; Ep. 3, 755, l. 4–5: ‘Paraphrasim viris tam probatis probari maiorem in modum gaudeo’; Ep. 7, 1906, l. 78–79: ‘Omnes boni viri vno ore profitentur se ex nullo libro plus coepisse fructus quam ex meis Paraphrasibus’; Ep. 11, 3080, l. 34–35: ‘nec dies labitur in qua non sibi suas horas vendicent vel Paraphrases vel Enchiridion.’ 63 Cf. Ep. 8, 2165, l. 41–43: ‘Ipse non grauarer Gallum aut Batauum interpretem conducere; sed rara auis est qui in sua lingua tantum praestare valeat.’ For the Netherlands and England, cf. Augustijn, Erasmus, 101: ‘The work was particularly popular in the Netherlands, and in England it was prescribed by law in 1547 that every pa rish church and every clergyman who did not possess a doctor’s degree were to be in possession of a copy of the translation.’ See also J. Craig, ‘Forming a Protestant Consciousness? Erasmus’ Paraphrases in English Parishes, 1547–1666’, in H.M. Pabel and M. Vessey (eds), Holy Scripture Speaks. The Production and Reception of Erasmus’ Paraphrases on the New Testament (Toronto-Buffalo-London 2003), 313–359, in particular 317–318. Cf. also Hadrianus Junius, Epistolae (Dordrecht: V. Caimax, 1652), 24. 64 Cf. Allen 1, p. 21, l. 9–10: ‘Nec enim alius labor mihi minus inuidiae conflauit quam Paraphraseon.’ 65 Cf. Erasmus’ Apologia adversus debacchationes Petri Sutoris , LB 9, 801D: ‘Unus Sutor improbat’; Ep. 7, 1906, l. 79, to Beda: ‘Id opus tu maxime impetis’; Declarationes ad censuras Lutetiae vulgatas, LB 9, 875–880. ‘Tit. XIII. De iis in quibus a communi usu Ecclesiae Latinae Paraphrastes recedit in suis Paraphrasibus.’ The Spanish monks have also lavishly used the Paraphrases in their articles for the Valladolid Conference in 1527. 66 For this controversy, see the fundamental Introduction of Nelson H. Minnich in his edition of Erasmus’ contributions to it, CWE 84, xv–cxliii. For the discussion on the Paraphrases, cf. S. Dresden, ‘“Paraphrase” et “Commentaire” d’après Érasme et Alberto Pio’, in Società, Politica e Cultura a Carpi ai tempi di Alberto III Pio. Atti del Convegno internazionale (Carpi, 19–21 Maggio 1978 ) (Padova 1981), 1, 207–224. 61

VIVES AND THE SPECTRE OF THE INQUISITION Charles Fantazzi (East Carolina University) Important light has been shed on the character and personality of Juan Luis Vives in the Litterae ad Craneveldium Balduinianae , rightfully restored to the University of Leuven in 1989 through the timely intervention of the King Baudouin Foundation. In one of the earliest of these Vives recalls the various academic careers that had attracted him at one time or another in his youth. Of these, he says, the beautiful young girl, Dialectics, has been defiled by brothel-keepers; he avows that he had once been interested in the study of law and also of theology but was deterred from it since the theologians steer their subject into such narrow straits and force one to sail past so many reefs that it is difficult for a man of slightly liberal views to avoid shipwreck (‘theologi in tantas angustias deducunt suam rem ac inter tot scopulos cogunt enavigare ut difficile sit homini paulo liberiori non facere naufragium’).1 Thus his words may be said directly to evoke the theme of our proceedings. He writes this very early on in his career, towards the end of the year 1520, more than a year after the In pseudodialecticos and the Aedes legum, to which he makes specific reference in this letter. Having broached the subject of law, Vives answers a question that had been put to him by Cranevelt in a previous letter, namely, what his opinion was of the triumvirate singled out by Claudius Cantiuncula, professor of civil law at Basel, as having introduced a new era in jurisprudence, sometimes referred to as the scuola culta. The three were Andrea Alciato, Udalricus Zasius and Guillaume Budé. Of Alciato Vives says disparagingly that he seems to belong to that class of grammarians who offer their services at a high price, but hastens to add that he does not wish to detract in any way from the scholar’s considerable learning. Concerning the famous jurist, Zasius, he affirms that his writings cannot be compared in his judgment with those of Budé,

J. IJsewijn, G. Tournoy, D. Sacré, L. IJsewijn-Jacobs, and M. Mund-Dopchie, ‘Litterae ad Craneveldium Balduinianae’ . Preliminary Edition. 1. Letters 1–30 (eds IJsewijn and Tournoy), in Humanistica Lovaniensia 41 (1992), 1–85 (quot. p. 55). The whole collection will henceforth be referred to as Litterae Balduinianae. 1

54

charles

f antazzi

Fig. 3. Robert Boissard, Portrait of Juan Luis Vives, engraving ca 1587. Catholic University Leuven, Central Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PA 153

vives and the spectre of the inquisition

55

whom he describes as inter stellas luna minores , a slight variation on a phrase of Horace. 2 But he implores Cranevelt not to show this letter to anyone lest it prove prejudicial to him that as one of the common rank and file he should have dared to criticize the literary arbiters of the Republic of Letters. This note of caution and apprehension will characterize much of Vives’s correspondence, as we shall see. In this same letter he informs Cranevelt that in Louvain, in broad daylight, in the middle of the market place, bundles of Luther’s books and pamphlets were burned not by the public crier but by the public hangman, which gave him fears that one day a great conflagration would arise from this, a sentiment that can often be found in Erasmus. He prays that God will fortify his church with two things, sane minds and tranquility, adding that the latter will be present if the former is not lacking. That is as far as he goes, no condemnation or even opinion is offered concerning Luther. There is one letter among the Balduinianae (Letter 26) that stands out for its forceful and astonishing expression of Vives’s refusal to become involved in religious issues, whether they concern Luther or Reuchlin or theology in general. It is a passage which I think merits quotation in full, provisionally rendered into English: I have heard rumors about Reuchlin pretty much the same as what you describe, but have given little thought to them, nor do I greatly care what either Luther or Reuchlin is up to or what is made of their activities, whether they are victorious or go down in defeat, whether they triumph or are triumphed over. It is of no importance to me. I neither sow nor reap. These are turbulent matters which I find immensely repugnant. Whichever party wins, I fear no loss and hope for no gain, as far as my religious beliefs are concerned. I know what road I shall follow and what I shall believe. The apostles will teach me and I shall have the disciples of the eternal master as the best of teachers. What does it matter to Vives if the books of the Jews are burned? I have no books of the Jews and I do not read them or care about them. What to me is the supreme authority of the Pope, and the dispute about whether it is based on human or divine law? I neither am pope nor wish to be nor am I eager to have anything to do with him. I little care whether one must make a confession or not, nor have I committed the kind of sins that require confession in order to be removed. If Christians go to confession, so will I. If they don’t confess, neither will I. In that way I will be no worse off than the rest of mankind. To wish to be better than others is a sign of arrogance

2

After Horace, Carmina 1, 12, 47–48.

56

charles

f antazzi

Fig. 4. Juan Luis Vives, Letter to Franciscus Craneveldius(20 December [1520]). Catholic University Leuven, Central Library, Litt. ad Cran. Balduin., ep. 26

vives and the spectre of the inquisition

57

and insolence. Therefore do not write anything to me in future about Reuchlin and Luther, and not even about theology or theologians. If you wish to write, let it be about literature, Greek, as you do, Latin, dialectics, rhetoric, orators, philosophy, philosophers, and, if you wish, a little something about the courtroom. I devote myself to all of these and cultivate them since I take pleasure in them without fear of danger. If I speak well of them, everyone commends me, no one envies me, no one attacks me with bloody tooth. And if I speak badly of them, the damage is limited. They will say that I misunderstood some word through inattention, or I differed from the opinion of this or that individual, or said something rather unusual, but since it hurts no one, it will not cause much offense.3

Vives ends this emotional outburst with the statement that he could expatiate much further on the subject but that that was all he had to say at the moment. I should say that he had said enough. Nowhere in his letters does he so openly express the terrible torment that must have obsessed him concerning his Jewish origins and the consequent anxiety about becoming involved in religious disputes. We do not have Cranevelt’s answer. One cannot help but wonder how the dignified jurisconsult would have reacted to this uninhibited confession. The tabu on the discussion of religious matters will remain throughout

3 Litterae Balduinianae 1, 72–73: ‘De Reuclino fando nescio quid audivi propemodum tale, quale ipse scribis, sed non admodum adverti animum; neque enim magnopere curo vel quid Lutherus et Reuclinus agant, vel quomodo agantur, vincant an vincantur, triumphent an triumphentur; mea non refert. Nihil mihi neque seritur neque metitur. Res sunt seditiosae, a quibus mirum ut animus meus abhorreat. Utracunque pars vincat, nullam inde timeo iacturam meae relligioni, nullam accessionem spero. Scio quo me sum versurus, quid crediturus; apostoli me docebunt et optimos habebo magistros discipulos aeterni Magistri. Quid ad Vivem an libri Iudaeorum sint comburendi? Qui libros Iudaeorum nec habeo nec lego nec curo; quid etiam ad me Pontificis principatus, sit de iurene humano an divino? Qui nec pontifex sum nec esse volo, nec mihi cupio rem cum illo esse unquam ullam. Sit facienda confessio necne parum laboro; neque enim ea scelera concepi, propter quae velim tolli receptam confessionem. Si confiteantur Christiani, confitebor et ego; si non confiteantur, nec ego; denique nec in peiore possum esse conditione quam reliqui, et esse in meliore velle arrogantis et insolentis est. Quocirca tu ad me posthac nihil de Reuclino et Luthero scripseris ac ne de theologia quidem ipsa vel theologis, sed si omnino aliquid vis de litteris, de Graecitate, ut facis, de Latinitate, de dialectica, de rhetorica, de oratoribus, de philosophia, de philosophis; admisce interdum aliquid, si lubet, de iurisconsultis tuis. Istis omnibus me dedo, istos colo, quoniam me oblectant sine suspitione ulla periculi. Si quid in his bene vel sentio vel dico, laudant omnes, nullus invidet, nullus cruento incessit dente. Sin male, error eo usque progreditur ut vel vocula aliqua falsus dicar, parum scilicet attentus, vel discessisse ab opinione huius vel illius credar, paradoxumque dixisse, sed quod neminem ut nec ledit, ita nec valde offendat.’

58

charles

f antazzi

all the letters. On political matters he became less reticent, especially during and after his sojourn in England. Also included among the batch of new letters is one which recounts the heart-breaking news of the death of the young Cardinal Guillaume de Croÿ. Vives sincerely recalls the young man’s admirable character and abilities but also emphasizes the consequences of the loss of such a patron, one who was not only benevolent, but powerful. He repeats the word twice in succession potentissimum, et potentissimum in mea regione, meaning, of course, Spain, for De Croÿ was archbishop of Toledo and primate of all of Spain. The potential protector not only of himself but of members of his family who had remained in Spain was gone.4 Vives returns to the Luther question in another of these early letters to Cranevelt. 5 He says that since he has been sick at home no one has brought him news of this matter. He turns to Greek to describe Luther as a seditious person ( στασιώδης). Towards the end of the letter he reverts again to Greek: ‘ τοὺς μοναχοὺς ἔα μοναχοὺς ἀεὶ εἶναι’ (Let monks be monks). He then makes oblique reference again to the burning of Luther’s books with the phrase edictis incendiariis but is careful not to accuse the monks openly of this, although the imputation is clear. He is happy to say that he suffered no loss because of this since he never bought any of Luther’s books, following the advice of Cato that he should be a seller, and not a buyer. These pamphlets (schedulae is the scornful term he uses) hold no interest for him and if he wants to read one he can easily borrow it. Printers and booksellers should not waste their time printing such trash which no one would have the patience to read more than once. Such is Vives’s disdain for religious polemics. For their own amusement and edification Vives and Cranevelt exercised themselves in writing letters entirely in Greek, as many of the humanists did to show off their competence in the language. But even here Vives is reluctant to engage in theological arguments. He enters, merely in passing, into a discussion of fate and divine providence, quoting the line from the opening of the Iliad, ∆ιὸς ἐτελήσετο 4 J. IJsewijn, D. Sacré, and G. Tournoy (eds), Litterae Balduinianae 2. Letters 31–55, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 42 (1993), 2–51 (quot. p. 24). 5 J. IJsewijn, D. Sacré, G. Tournoy, and M. Verweij (eds), Litterae Balduinianae 3. Letters 56–85, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 43 (1994), 15–68 (quot. p. 26 and 27, respectively).

vives and the spectre of the inquisition

59

βουλή,6 but does not wish to pursue this thorny theological matter. He says that he can act only as an adviser in such matters, not a teacher. The discussion spills over into another Greek letter, in which Vives defends his position that we cannot oppose the power of fate without being guilty of impiety ( ἀσέβεια). The question of fate is one that will reappear often in Vives’s letters, not as a dogma to be argued and elucidated, but as an ineluctable force, almost a concrete presence that governs our lives. In the last long letter of the Balduinianae, Vives gives a very gloomy picture of war-torn Europe. 7 In these times, he says, no one but a bloodthirsty robber can survive. There is no hope in sight until these youthful passions cool down, and when this will be is known only to God. Then he says, more specifically, in Greek: ‘What a calamity! The kings are all young men ( βασιλεὶς νεανίσκους) and their counsellors are none the wiser. To hell with flatterers.’ Here he puns on the Aristophanic expression εἰς κόρακας (to the crows) 8 and the word κόλακας (flatterers). It is clear that he is referring to the two young monarchs, Charles V and Francis I, the one 21, the other 28 years of age. He says that each is determined to destroy either himself or the other. There is no mention of peace. Indeed, he says, the etymology of Mavors, the older form of Mars, as magna vertere (to overthrow great things), is all too true. Vives is aware that a new and unusual type of warfare now exists in which it is not the one who has inflicted the greatest damage on his opponent who is the victor, but the one who comes out of it not totally annihilated. Without ever mentioning the names of the kings involved he says that the French are laying waste the lands of one of the combatants and the other in turn is sending troops into France to ravage it. He remarks that it would be more hopeful if each one would defend his own land from harm before invading someone else’s. One would think that they were not waging war on Christians or even on human beings, but were warding off wild beasts from their cities. Reflecting once again on the vagaries of Fortune, Vives says that even in peaceful times she is not the companion of right minds, but when war throws everything into confusion, she is the enemy of all wisdom

Litterae Balduinianae 3, 35; Vives is quoting Homer, Ilias, 1, 5. J. IJsewijn, D. Sacré, G. Tournoy, and M. Verweij (eds), Litterae Balduinianae 4. Letters 86–116, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 44 (1995), 1–78 (quot. p. 29). 8 Cf. Aristophanes, Clouds 133, as well as Plutus 394 and 604; see also Erasmus, Adagia, 1096. 6 7

60

charles

f antazzi

and sanity and casts herself into the bosom of Mars in the midst of arms and brutish insensibility. These words were written around the sixth of January 1522. It is interesting to compare them with an open letter to Pope Adrian VI at the end of that same year, 12 October 1522. It is entitled De Europae statu ac tumultibus , which is usually carelessly translated as ‘On the tumultuous state of Europe’, ignoring the connective ac, whereas Vives in his appeal to the pope specifically mentions two separate concerns, the wars of extermination and the religious tumults: ‘hinc bellis hinc turbis ab hominibus prave sentientibus excitatis.’ 9 As in the letter to Cranevelt, he speaks of a new type of warfare that has now been devised, in which everything is put to the torch. The French burn our lands, then when we are victorious, we burn theirs. In this way we give supreme gratification to the Turks and become the unwitting executors of their wishes. Vives comments ironically: ‘What barbarians ever made war in such a way that the victory profited neither them nor their enemy?’ It is not only princes who are to blame but certain learned men who have gained their confidence and act as counselors, discoursing eruditely about just and unjust wars. But, Vives objects, this is a war between brothers, and what is more, those initiated in the same baptism, and is therefore unjust, criminal, immoral and impious. The rest of the letter is an appeal to the pope to call a general council to put an end to the tumults within the church. Vives is much more guarded in this public utterance than in his private letter, but he is not afraid to speak out forcefully against the prolonged imperialistic wars. He thought he could do so with impunity since he knew Adrian from Louvain, when he was bishop of Tortosa, not of Rome. At the insistence of friends it appears that Vives allowed this letter to be published in November 1524, probably in England, with a preface stating that Cranevelt had urged its publication. 10 No copy of this separate publication of the letter is extant. Despite the relative caution and restraint of this open letter Vives felt obliged a few months later to confess his misgivings about it to the prefect of the Vatican Library and formidable emissary of the Pope to 9 Ioannis Ludovici Vivis Valentini opera omnia , Gregorius Majansius (ed.), 8 vols (Valencia 1782–1790; London 1964). [Abbreviated to Maj. in succeeding citations] Maj. 5, 166. 10 H. de Vocht (ed.), Literae virorum eruditorum ad Franciscum Craneveldium (1522–1528) (Leuven 1929), Ep. 128.

vives and the spectre of the inquisition

61

the Lowlands, Girolamo Aleandro. He says: ‘Imagine my audacity, or rather my temerity. I have not hesitated to write to the Pontiff himself, relying on our old friendship. [. . .] But ‘Fortune favors the brave’, as they say, but also the bold.’ 11 Shortly after sending this letter, Vives received terrible news from Spain. He writes to Cranevelt on 4 January 1523 that he has learned that one of his brothers has died and that his father was grievously afflicted (gravissime affligi).12 There is a lacuna in the letter here, for which De Vocht supplied agere animam, i.e., that he was in his last agony, or possibly, that his life was at stake. Carlos Noreña was the first, I believe, to interpret this to mean that his father was in the hands of the Inquisition, influenced probably by De Vocht’s conjecture, which colors our interpretation of the passage. 13 As Vives reflects on this news he says that his whole life depends on what happens in Spain. He cannot decide whether he should go there or stay in Louvain. He exclaims in despair that Fortune could have made no one more unhappy than him. Noreña and others with him interpret the personified Fortuna to be a cipher for the Inquisition. I do not believe this is so. He seems in many of his letters to be obsessed with the sense of impending doom, of Fortuna as a cruel and ferocious goddess who rules over us. In a later letter, he tells Cranevelt that one of his grandfathers died but reflects that we must suffer all these blows of fortune although Christ wished that we have as few dealings with it as possible. He says in Greek: ‘Complain and you will be called a heretic.’14 Even in these agonizing moments of his life Vives made every effort to conceal his Jewish origins. Fear of its being revealed conditioned his whole existence. The only clear reference to his father’s condemnation to death is in a letter of Juan Vergara to him four years later, and even here it is a guarded statement, expressed in Greek, τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς συμφοράν (your father’s misfortune), which Vergara

11 ‘Vide audaciam meam seu potius temeritatem. Ad ipsum Pont[ificem] Max[imum] non dubitavi scribere fretus amicitia vetere. [. . .] Caeterum Fortuna non fortes solum, quod aiunt, sed etiam audaces [iuvat].’ This letter was first published by J. Paquier, ‘Lettres familières de Jérôme Aléandre (1510–1540)’, in Revue des études historiques 71 (1905), 591–600. 12 De Vocht (ed.), Literae [. . .] ad Franciscum Craneveldium, Ep . 32. 13 C.G. Noreña, Juan Luis Vives (The Hague 1970), 73. 14 De Vocht (ed.), Literae [. . .] ad Franciscum Craneveldium, Ep . 45.

62

charles

f antazzi

says he bore with great difficulty.15 Yet he goes on to assure Vives that this will not diminish his love for him and that no extraneous event will be able to becloud Vives’s brilliant achievements. Quite an ambiguous expression of consolation! As it happened, Vergara himself would be tried and imprisoned by the Inquisition some years later. Of course, the awful truth about the sufferings of Vives’s family has only emerged in modern times with the publication in 1964 of the inquisitorial trials against them. 16 Encouraged by the fact that his letter to the Pope did not arouse hostility, Vives wrote a second public letter, on 8 July 1524, to a prelate of the church, John Longland, bishop of Lincoln and chaplain and confessor to the king, with a renewed plea for peace. The human race is not warring among themselves but against Christ, he says, and therefore it is not worthy of peace. There is no peace for the wicked. Men say that the only obstacle to world peace is that neither party wishes to be the first to seek it. Such arrogance comes right from the school of the devil who will always be God’s enemy because he will never be persuaded to seek pardon. Vives then uses a parallel never made before him, as far as we know: ‘Spanish mariners tell us that in the New World which they have discovered there are certain islands in which if war arises he who seeks peace from the enemy is considered a most honorable man and he who refuses it when offered is considered a criminal and a public enemy.’ 17 He proceeds to contrast these salutary teachings learned from nature to the education, literature and divine teachings of their own world, corrupted by the twin vices of ambition and avarice. Vives obviously felt that it was safe to deliver these universal moral exhortations without naming names or laying the blame on any particular person. At the same time, by writing to the king’s confessor, he hoped to reach the ears of the king himself and persuade him to take on the role of a peacemaker. Vives writes to Cranevelt on 7 March 1525 that there in England, where he was now in the employ of the king, peace is still being dis15 A. Bonilla y San Martín, ‘Clarorum Hispaniensium epistolae ineditae’, in Revue hispanique 8 (1901), 251. 16 M. de la Pinta y Llorente and J.M. de Palacio, Procesos inquisitoriales contra la familia judía de Luis Vives (Madrid 1964), 96–105. 17 ‘Narrant Hispani nautae esse in novo isto Orbe quem repererunt insulas quasdam, inter quas si bellum incidat, honestisssimus et sit et habeatur qui pacem ab hoste roget; alterum scelestum et omnibus in commune hostem qui rogatam neget.’ Maj. 5, 462.

vives and the spectre of the inquisition

63

cussed but that at the same time people are making horrible threats against each other. He states that conditions of peace will be obtained more by terror than by the offering of favorable terms.18 In the meantime, Charles V’s armies had overwhelmed the French at Pavia and taken Francis I prisoner on 24 February. The news reached England only on 9 March, which prompted Vives to pen a letter immediately to Henry VIII, which he would later publish with the title De Francisco rege a Caesare capto . Although Henry’s troops did not participate in the battle, Vives involves Henry in the victory. He thinks that this fateful event can be converted into an opportunity for both Charles and Henry to show moderation and magnanimity in their victory. In his words future generations will see that not only did they bring the king under their power, but also became masters of themselves, and that rather than falling victim to the vagaries of fortune, overpowered it, and instead of becoming more insolent and arrogant, were reminded of the uncertainty of human affairs, realizing that the same thing could have happened to them. He makes a touching plea in behalf of the French people: ‘We nurture the fond hope that you will not cruelly ravage an innocent nation, the most flourishing realm of Christendom, and pluck out one of the eyes of Europe. Why can the people be blamed if their king decides to undertake a war against the will of his council? ’19 At the end of the letter Vives assures the king that he does not wish to impose upon his prudence or that of his counselor, especially of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a man with great experience in the administration of affairs. One cannot but admire the noble principles of Vives expressed in this letter and his humane concern for the common people, but of course his advice would not have found favor either with the king or the cardinal. If anything, Pavia spurred them on in their desire to depose the Valois dynasty and restore to Henry VIII the provinces conquered by Edward III and Henry V. Wolsey quickly dispatched an embassy to the Emperor in Spain to secure his help in a joint invasion of France but they were received coldly and on 26 March the Emperor

De Vocht, Literae [. . .] ad Franciscum Craneveldium , Ep. 144. Maj. 6, 450: ‘[. . .] quocirca et bona spes est vos moderate victoria usuros, neu saevituros in gentem innoxiam et praesidio destitutam, nec florentissimum Christiani orbis regnum vastaturos, et tamquam universae Europae alterum eruturos oculum. Quid enim populus commeruit, si Regi visum est bellum suscipere etiam consiliariorum omnium, ut ferunt, adversa voluntate?’ 18 19

64

charles

f antazzi

wrote that if they wished to wage war, they could do so on their own. The Pope also warned against it. Vives remained the boldest voice among the opposition. He wrote a second critical letter to Henry VIII from Bruges six months later on 8 October. 20 It is longer than the previous one and of more philosophical intent. In substance he says that the prince is to the republic what the soul is to the body and in a sense he is a reflection of the author of nature himself. His feelings are transmitted to the citizen body and the multitude conforms to his example. The good prince will show himself to be in public and in private what he wishes his subjects to be. He must consider that he is placed in a crowded theatre where none of his actions or words remain secret. All eyes are upon him. To fulfill his role a leader needs good counsellors, who may teach and counsel him since he is subject to error like other men. The flatterer tries to deny these men access to the prince as if he were not in need of counsel but perfect in every way. Goodness is the greatest and strongest bond of a kingdom. Harsh, immoderate governments are quickly dissolved and are more violent than lasting. From these admonitions Vives passes to a eulogy of the king for the liberality of his rule. He extols him as a model of a ruler whose safety is not dependent on spears and guards but on the good will of his subjects. At great length Vives discourses on the advantages of peace over war, how literature, religion, laws, justice, trade, tranquility, constructive work flourish in peace time but are thrown into confusion by the storms of war. Returning to sentiments expressed in the letter to Adrian VI, he speaks of the horrors of war, which finds its amusement in sacking houses, desecrating temples, raping women, burning entire cities, or in short, total madness. The populace is burdened with heavy taxes and tributes, commerce on sea and land is suspended and everyone leads a life of misery and poverty. Vives now turns to a rational discussion of war and peace. Before descending to the choice of waging war the prince must long deliberate. There is no second chance. An unjust peace is much to be preferred even to a successful war. Once in the grip of war the ruler and the whole kingdom are at the mercy of chance. He who has the power to begin a war does not have the power to end it. Vives ends with the prayer that the monarch will receive his missive with mildness and leniency as he has done in the past, reminding him that all peoples 20

Maj. 5, 175–186.

vives and the spectre of the inquisition

65

place their hope in him for a lasting peace. He prays that living up to his title of Defensor pacis, he will gain universal glory for having restored peace to the world. The reward for the exposition of these lofty thoughts in a public letter was his dismissal from the Oxford lectureship early the next year. He had come too close to dangerous reefs in talking about the levying of taxes to finance wars, an allusion which would not have been lost on Wolsey, who had become very unpopular with the people for what he euphemistically termed an ‘Amicable and Loving Grant!’ He remained in England until May and then returned to Bruges where, at the end of the year he published all of these letters plus his dialogue on the war with the Turks and his two translations of political treatises of Isocrates, dedicated to Wolsey, in a book called De Europae dissidiis et re publica .21 He was perfectly aware, however, that he was now sailing against the current (‘in rebus meis navigo hic nonnihil adverso flumine’), as he later confides to Cranevelt.22 Yet despite these premonitions, in fulfillment of a promise he had made to Queen Catherine, Vives returned to Greenwich in early October to teach Latin to Princess Mary. In January of 1528 he reported to Cranevelt that he was being closely watched, and in February Wolsey took the liberty of cross-examining him about his conversations with the queen. He was forced to write a declaration in the form of a letter, revealing what the queen had confided to him. This document exists in the London Record Office in Vives’s own hand, 23 but strangely enough, Delgado does not include it in his translation of Vives’s letters. 24 It is an outstanding example of Vives’s prudence, courage and circumspection in these perilous circumstances. He refers to the queen in his opening words in the most dignified terms: ‘Quid Serenissima Domina Regina mecum communicarit iubeor enunciare et cogor silentium secreti rumpere’ (I am bidden to divulge what her Most Serene Majesty has communicated to me, and I am forced to break the silence of a secret). He says he has heard that there have been complaints about the emperor’s having Bruges: Hubert de Croock, December 1526. De Vocht (ed.), Literae [. . .] ad Franciscum Craneveldium , Ep. 185. 23 The text of the letter is most conveniently consulted in H. de Vocht, Monumenta humanistica Lovaniensia (Leuven 1934), 29–32. It is also to be found in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic,of the Reign of Henry VIII , catalogued by J.S. Brewer, 4 (London 1920), 4978–4979. 24 J. Jiménez Delgado, Juan Luis Vives. Epistolario (Madrid 1978). 21 22

66

charles

f antazzi

violated diplomatic immunities in taking ambassadors prisoner. But, he affirms, it is no less an outrage to compel someone to divulge what was secretly confided to him by his superior, a woman whose faith and loyalty to her husband cannot be called into question. Not that there is any danger in revealing these secrets, which could be broadcast in the highways and the byways of the city or published on the doors of the church. Nevertheless he says that he will comply with a higher power, confident that what he says will seem more worthy of praise than of blame, even though such a public interrogation will set bad precedent. Vives then explains how he had returned to England in obedience to the queen’s wishes so that in her anguish and distress she might find comfort in her fellow countryman, a man well read in matters of morals and who spoke her language. In these conversations, he relates, she confided to him that the reason for her sadness was that the person whom she loved more than her very self was so alienated from her as to think of marrying another woman. Her grief was all the greater because of her ardent love for her spouse. In consolation Vives assured her that these trials were a proof that she was dear to God, who was accustomed thus to exercise his own. Indignantly he exclaims: ‘Who can blame me for lending an ear to an unfortunate, grief-stricken woman? for seeking to console with friendly words a queen of such noble ancestry, whose parents were my rulers? ’ Vives very skillfully evokes the pathos of the scene in these words. He then comes to the actual legal discussions, which he says were kept secret from the queen. He explains that since she had heard that the case had been brought to the Supreme Pontiff, she bade him to ask the Spanish ambassador to write to the emperor and to intercede with the pope lest she be condemned without having been heard. Vives again pleads for sympathy: ‘Quis non admiretur, et suspiciat moderationem Reginae? In ea caussa, in qua aliae mulieres miscuissent coelum terrae, et omnia clamoribus et tumultu replessent, ipsa tantum id petiit a filio sororis suae, ut a iudice impetraret ne inaudita damnaretur!’ (Who would not admire and respect the moderation of the queen? Another woman would have moved heaven and earth with her pleas, yet all she asks is the intercession of her own sister’s son with the judge, that she not be condemned unheared). He concludes tersely: ‘Haec est summa omnium quae Regina et ego sumus collocuti; nec aliud invenietur. Nec aliis me rebus ipsi admiscuissem, quippe qui non libenter tracto res principum.’ (This is the sum total of what the Queen and I discussed,

vives and the spectre of the inquisition

67

nor will anything else be found. I would not have involved myself in any other matters since I do not willingly meddle in the affairs of princes). His closing prayer, which is not without its touch of sarcasm, bears quoting: ‘Ille miseratus populum suum det pacem et quietem illam suam principibus, populis, domibus et unicuique hominum intra se.’ (May He who takes pity on His people grant His peace and tranquility to princes, peoples, homes and each person within himself ). Nonetheless, both Vives and the ambassador, Iñigo de Mendoza, were placed under house arrest for 38 days, as we know from a letter of Jan van Fevijn to Cranevelt. 25 Despite this harsh treatment Vives remained loyal to the king. He wrote him a final letter on 13 January 1531, in which he gives sound, frank advice. He says in brief: And what are you looking for in a new war? A wife? But you already have one, with whom the one you desire (concupiscis) cannot compare in any way. But why a wife? I don’t imagine it is for any obscene pleasure. Is it heirs to the kingdom you seek? But you have a marvelous daughter and you can choose your own son-in-law, but you cannot choose your own son. And who can guarantee you will have a son from this woman (ista)?26

Vives ends with a most respectful closing, reaffirming his love for England and his concerns for peace. But surely the King would not have been flattered by these words. He had more success in an earlier open letter to Emperor Charles V, the dedication to the essay, De concordia et discordia of July 1529, in which he represents his Majesty as the instrument of God to restore peace and concord to Europe.27 More revelatory of the thoughts of Vives at this time, however, is the letter to Alfonso Manrique, Archbishop o f Seville and Inquisitor General, which serves as the dedication of the

De Vocht (ed.), Literae [. . .] ad Franciscum Craneveldium, Ep. 254. Maj. 7, 135: ‘At quid tandem quaeretur hoc bello? Uxor? At habes cui haec, quam concupiscis, nec bonitate, nec genere, nec forma, nec pietate Tui comparari possit. Sed quid per uxorem quaeritur? Non credo brevis voluptas aliqua et obscaena. Liberi, inquis, heredes regni. At habes Christo gratia puellam mirae indolis; deliges arbitratu tuo generum, qualem non poteris eligere filium. [. . .] Quis porro confirmare potest Tibi generaturum Te ex ista [. . .].’ 27 For an excellent discussion of this letter cf. V. Del Nero, ‘La dedica di Vives a Carlo Quinto del De concordia et discordia ’ in L. Borgia, F. de Luca et al. (eds), Studi in onore di Arnaldo d’Addario (Lecce 1995), 2, 615–624. 25 26

68

charles

f antazzi

De pacificatione, the companion piece of the De concordia. Here the pent up feelings of fear and hatred of the Holy Tribunal come openly to the surface: To all these noble duties of pacification incumbent upon you there is added the office of the inquisition of heretics, which is so important and so fraught with danger that if the one charged with it is ignorant of its goals he will be guilty of great sin, since the salvation, fortunes, reputation and lives of many people are at stake. It is truly astonishing that so much power is given to a judge, who is not exempt from human passions, or a prosecutor, who at times is driven to calumny by hatred, expectations or some evil inclination of the spirit. 28

Vives of course then assures Manrique that this grave duty has been entrusted to a man who is free of all those passions. He ends with a nautical metaphor, which once again accords well with the theme of this conference, that we must place our hopes not only in the sacred anchor but in a good and wise helmsman who knows to what port he must steer the ship and is willing to guide it there, to a haven of peace and public tranquility.

28 Maj. 5, 405: ‘[. . .] accedit his omnibus maximis, ut vides, pignoribus pacificationis, munus inquisitionis haereticorum, quod quum tantum sit, tamque periculosum, nisi sciat quis quo pertineat, eo peccabit gravius, quo de plurium salute, fortunis, fama, et vita agitur. Mira dictu res, tantum esse permissum vel iudici, qui non caret humanis affectionibus, vel accusatori, quem nonnunquam ad calumniam, odium, vel spes, vel prava aliqua impellit animi cupiditas.’

CORRESPONDANCE ET STRATÉGIE D’AUTEUR : LES LETTRES DE FRANÇOIS RABELAIS* Paul J. Smith (Leyde) Curieusement, la lettre la plus célèbre de François Rabelais est une lettre fictive, adressée par Gargantua à son fils. En fait, la correspondance réelle de Rabelais est bien peu connue, et reste tapie à l’ombre de ses œuvres de fiction. Comme le rappelle Richard Cooper, ‘It has been suggested that had he not written his vernacular comic fictions, Rabelais would be remembered, if at all, only as an unexceptional provincial humanist, who dabbled in law and medicine, grubbed for patronages and benefices, and wrote the odd poem and letter.’1 Aussi cette correspondance a-t-elle été surtout étudiée non pas pour ses mérites propres, mais afin de mieux connaître la vie et l’œuvre littéraire de son auteur. En cela, elle partage le même sort que celle de cet autre grand prosateur du seizième siècle, Michel de Montaigne, dont les lettres sont surtout connues grâce à l’existence de ses Essais. Ces deux correspondances ont aussi en commun d’être assez restreintes : seules trente-six lettres de la main de Montaigne ont été conservées, et la correspondance de Rabelais est encore plus réduite. Celle-ci ne comporte que cinq lettres proprement dites, le reste étant constitué de cinq épîtres dédicatoires et de divers textes relevant plus ou moins de l’épistolaire. Pourtant, malgré la part négligeable qu’elle occupe dans le corpus de l’auteur, cette correspondance mérite tout notre intérêt, à la fois pour ses qualités propres et en raison de son étonnante variété, qui va nous permettre de problématiser la notion même de correspondance. Pour la commodité du lecteur, nous avons disposé ces lettres dans un tableau récapitulatif (en annexe) selon leur ordre chronologique. Regardons de plus près : à première vue, si, d’un point de vue typologique, les cinq lettres proprement dites ne sont pas problématiques, il

* Nous tenons à remercier Aurore Evain et Olivier Pédeflous, dont les remarques suggestives nous ont été d’un grand secours. 1 R. Cooper, ‘Rabelais’s neo-Latin writings’, dans G. Castor et T. Cave (éds.), NeoLatin and the Vernacular in Renaissance France (Oxford 1984), 49–70 (p. 49).

70

paul j. s mith

n’en est pas de même pour les cinq épîtres dédicatoires. Celles-ci se distinguent de la première catégorie par leur destination : elles sont uniquement réservées à l’impression – contrairement à une grande partie de la correspondance humaniste, qui vise un double objectif : entrer en contact avec un destinataire particulier, puis, ultérieurement, élargir la diffusion par une publication. L’épître en vers que Rabelais envoie à son ami Jean Bouchet en 1525 ( ?), non destinée à la publication à l’origine, mais imprimée tout de même une dizaine d’années plus tard, présente un autre problème typologique : est-ce une lettre ? Ou plutôt : est-ce une lettre en forme de poème, ou bien un poème en forme de lettre ? La question de la nature épistolaire de ces textes se pose encore au sujet de la Sciomachie. Cette longue description des festivités organisées par le cardinal Jean du Bellay à Rome à l’occasion de la naissance de Louis d’Orléans (3 février 1549–24 octobre 1550), fils du roi Henri II, n’est pas non plus une lettre à proprement parler : comme l’indique le sous-titre, elle est ‘extraite’ des lettres. Doit-on en conclure que cette production appartient à la correspondance de Rabelais ? De même, qu’en est-il des trois suppliques adressées au pape, et qui s’apparentent d’avantage à des listes de requêtes qu’à des ‘lettres’ ? Enfin, dernière catégorie problématique, les cinq lettres fictives que s’échangent les personnages rabelaisiens, et qui ressemblent tant aux lettres réelles de l’auteur : faut-il les inclure elles aussi dans sa correspondance ? Par souci de clarté, il nous a semblé plus prudent d’exclure de notre corpus ces deux dernières productions, à savoir les suppliques au pape et les lettres relevant de la fiction (même si nous aurons l’occasion de parler brièvement de la célèbre lettre de Gargantua à Pantagruel à propos de l’éducation humaniste idéale). D’un point de vue méthodologique, notre approche s’inspirera des quelques travaux consacrés à l’épistolaire rabelaisien, à savoir ceux de Fritz Neubert, Richard Cooper et Claude La Charité. 2 Fritz Neubert a été le premier à étudier les lettres de Rabelais comme un corpus à part entière, indépendamment de ses œuvres fictionnelles. Quant à Richard Cooper, on lui doit quelques études importantes sur la cor2 F. Neubert, ‘François Rabelais’ Briefe’, dans Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 71 (1961), 154–185 ; R. Cooper, Rabelais et l’Italie (Genève 1991) ; Idem, ‘Rabelais’s Neo-Latin Writings’, dans G. Castor et T. Cave (éds.), Neo-Latin and the Vernacular in Renaissance France (Oxford 1984), 49–70 ; C. La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire de Rabelais (Québec 2003).

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

71

respondance de Rabelais mise en rapport avec ses séjours en Italie, son emploi du latin et ses références à la littérature antique. Claude La Charité, de son côté, a analysé la place de la rhétorique dans ces lettres, en étudiant leur inventio, leur dispositio et leur elocutio. Ce faisant, il a rapproché la correspondance de Rabelais des préceptes du De conscribendis epistolis d’Érasme (1522) et de la Rhétorique de Pierre Fabri (1521) : il en a ainsi tiré une typologie basée sur les vingt-six genres épistolaires isolés par Érasme et les quarante-huit genres distingués par Fabri. Nous avons inclus cette typologie dans la cinquième colonne de notre tableau récapitulatif. Il est frappant de constater que Rabelais, à première vue, obéit aux règles érasmiennes et fabriennes, mais qu’il n’hésite pas, à l’intérieur d’une même lettre, à sauter d’un genre à l’autre. Ainsi, la première partie de la lettre adressée à Érasme est conçue sur le modèle de la lettre de remerciement, mais la seconde partie est composée selon la vingt-cinquième catégorie définie par Fabri, et intitulée ‘lettre sur les mœurs et conditions de certains’. Par ce procédé, Rabelais semble mettre en pratique, de façon délibérée, un autre conseil d’Érasme à propos de l’écriture épistolaire, à savoir le principe de variation. 3 À cette étape de notre réflexion, nous nous proposons de nous appuyer sur les travaux de Neubert, Cooper et La Charité, non pour étudier l’influence italienne et néo-latine de ces lettres, ou leur contenu rhétorique précis, mais plutôt pour analyser l’enjeu stratégique de cette correspondance : c’est-à-dire comment Rabelais a utilisé ces lettres pour s’introduire dans les réseaux intellectuels de son temps, qui, fait remarquable, ne se bornent pas ici aux cercles littéraires français, souvent très régionalisés, mais s’étendent à une République des Lettres humaniste d’envergure internationale, dont la philologie latine et grecque, la médecine et le droit constituent les disciplines dominantes. De ces enjeux stratégiques, nous retiendrons surtout le topos de la reconnaissance et le principe du do ut des . Pour la clarté de notre propos, nous avons choisi de procéder en suivant l’ordre chronologique de la correspondance, tel qu’il apparaît dans le tableau récapitulatif.

3

La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire, 47.

72

paul j. s mith La lettre à Budé

Notre approche, qui se concentre donc sur les objectifs stratégiques de l’auteur, se trouve justifiée dès la lecture de la première lettre connue de Rabelais, adressée à Guillaume Budé et datée de 1521, où il écrit sans détours : ‘[. . .] en effet je désir[e] vivement (pourquoi ne l’avouerais-je point ?), m’insinuer fort avant dans votre amitié – et j’aimerais mieux avoir cette faveur que de régner sur toute l’Asie ’ (Œuvres, p. 993 ; les italiques indiquent le passage en grec dans le texte original). 4 Afin d’y parvenir, Rabelais a à sa disposition tout un éventail de moyens rhétoriques, dont l’un consiste à faire la louange de son destinataire en recourant à un mode de comparaison, la syncrisis : il s’agit de faire plus ou moins l’éloge de A pour parler ensuite de B de façon encore plus élogieuse.5 Rabelais utilise, sous une forme comique, ce procédé de la syncrisis dans le prologue du Pantagruel, sa première œuvre de fiction : le narrateur se lance dans la louange d’un ouvrage anonyme, Les Grandes chroniques de Gargantua , afin de mieux louer son propre Pantagruel.6 Dans sa lettre à Budé, Rabelais y recourt encore en évoquant une première lettre qu’il lui avait écrite et à laquelle Budé n’avait pas répondu, pour parler ensuite de celle qu’il lui envoie présentement. Autre cas de syncrisis également présent : dès les premières lignes, Rabelais se présente comme ‘un jeune homme, étranger aux Muses, qui vit dans l’ombre, absolument ignorant du beau langage ’ (Œuvres, p. 993–994), procédé d’auto-dénigrement qui lui sert, dans un second temps, à mieux mettre en valeur le savoir, le génie et la réputation de Budé. Un autre topos utilisé par Rabelais est celui de la connaissance commune : dès les premiers mots, il prend soin de mentionner son ami Pierre Lamy, avec qui Budé est déjà en correspondance. Ce procédé, qui se rapproche de l’effet de connivence, vise à mettre en évidence un autre aspect qui lie destinateur et destinataire : leur commune maîtrise du grec. Le nom latin Amicus sert de point de départ à un jeu de mots en grec sur le thème de l’amitié – nomen est omen. Comme on peut le 4 Notre édition de référence : Rabelais, Œuvres complètes, éd. M. Huchon avec la coll. de F. Moreau (Paris 1994). 5 Ce procédé correspond à ce que Curtius nomme ‘surenchère’ (‘Überbietung’) : E.R. Curtius, La Littérature européenne et le Moyen Âge latin , trad. J. Bréjoux (Berne 1948 = Paris 1986), 270–274. 6 Voir mon article ‘Le Prologue du Pantagruel : une lecture’, dans Neophilologus 68 (1984), 161–169.

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

73

constater dans le tableau récapitulatif, cette démonstration de sa parfaite maîtrise du grec se trouve confirmée par la part importante que tient l’emploi de cette langue dans l’ensemble de la lettre. Soulignons, au passage, qu’il ne s’agit pas seulement de citations grecques, mais aussi de phrases forgées par Rabelais lui-même – le tout se cumulant dans un petit poème que l’auteur a composé en grec pour clore dignement sa lettre. Ce faisant, il semble suivre l’exemple de Budé, qui lui aussi ponctue ses lettres latines de passages en grec, pouvant parfois inclure un poème. La lettre de Rabelais contient en outre plusieurs plaisanteries d’ordre juridique ou à références mythologiques, assez lourdes à notre goût, mais qui semblent bien faites pour plaire à Budé. Marie-Madeleine de La Garanderie et Claude La Charité ont montré que Rabelais a puisé ces plaisanteries – le procès dont il menace, sur un ton railleur, Lamy ; les allusions à Pluton et à Plutus ; le rapprochement de ces dieux, certes inattendu mais motivé d’un point de vue onomastique – dans la correspondance même de Budé. 7 On voit ainsi combien il sait s’adapter aux goûts de son destinataire, suivant en cela l’exemple du ‘poulpe’ qui, par mimétisme, s’adapte à son environnement (l’image est tirée d’Érasme). 8 Claude La Charité a également pu prouver que, dans cette lettre, Rabelais tente de montrer qu’il a bien lu la correspondance grecque de Budé, tout juste parue au cours de cette année 1521. La réponse de Budé, datée du 21 avril, qui reprend le ton spirituel de la lettre de Rabelais, prouve que sa stratégie d’adaptation et d’assimilation a porté ses fruits. La deuxième lettre, celle en forme de poème, destinée au poète poitevin Jean Bouchet, est d’une tout autre nature, car destinateur et destinataire se connaissent déjà. Aussi a-t-elle surtout vocation à confirmer leur relation (le linguiste Roman Jakobson parlerait ici de ‘fonction phatique’), et ce faisant, leur appartenance au même réseau littéraire. La réponse de Bouchet, élaborée sur le même mode et qui ne porte sur rien de plus essentiel, ne fait que confirmer cette fonction : elle nous informe du même coup qu’en 1524, Rabelais a déjà fait sa place dans les cercles littéraires régionaux.

7 M.-M. de La Garanderie, ‘Rabelais et Budé’, dans Mélanges à la mémoire de Franco Simone : France et Italie dans la culture européenne, 4 vols (Genève 1980–1984), 4, 151–167 et La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire, 134–138. 8 De conscribendis epistolis, dans ASD [= Erasme, Opera omnia (Amsterdam 1969–)], I-2, 223, l. 4–6.

74

paul j. s mith Les trois lettres dédicatoires de 1532

Ces cercles, bien différents du réseau international de l’humanisme savant auquel appartient Budé, sont aussi plus faciles à conquérir. Pour mener à bien sa conquête d’un public international, Rabelais fait paraître coup sur coup en 1532, l’année où il devient médecin à Lyon, plusieurs lettres dédiées respectivement à André Tiraqueau, Geoffroy d’Estissac, évêque de Maillezais, et Amaury Bouchard. Étant donné leur contexte de production, il nous semble plus pertinent de considérer ces textes dans leur ensemble, et non séparément comme la critique rabelaisienne l’a fait jusqu’ici : couvrant à la fois les champs prestigieux de la médecine, du droit et de la philologie classique, ces lettres abordent des thématiques communes, se répondent, s’enchevêtrent . . . bref, elles font partie d’une même stratégie éditoriale, orchestrée dans le but de conquérir en un délai très court le public visé. Une telle stratégie fait penser à celle du poète Joachim du Bellay, qui, en 1558, après une période de silence, publia pas moins de cinq recueils à la fois. Notre hypothèse selon laquelle les trois lettres dédicatoires forment un ensemble cohérent est confirmée par le réseau de références communes auxquelles elles renvoient. Toutes, par exemple, mettent l’accent sur l’importance de la philologie ; celles à Tiraqueau et à Estissac se rapportent plus particulièrement à la médecine et évoquent leurs origines communes, le Poitou ; celles à Tiraqueau et à Bouchard mentionnent explicitement et avec insistance le rôle joué par l’imprimeur Sebastian Gryphius ; enfin, la lettre à Tiraqueau se termine par un salut à Estissac (‘Saluez pour moi le très illustre seigneur évêque de Maillezais, mon très bienveillant mécène, si jamais vous lui rendez visite’ [Œuvres, p. 982]). En procédant par allusions réciproques et renvois d’une lettre à l’autre, Rabelais cherche à réunir Tiraqueau et Bouchard, encore amis à l’époque de Fontenay-le-Comte, mais devenus adversaires dès 1522, lorsque ce dernier publia une réponse aux attaques contre les femmes que Tiraqueau avait fait paraître dans son De legibus connubialibus (1513). Comme le note Michael A. Screech : ‘The desire to mend fences by dedicating books to both Bouchard and Tiraqueau was there for all to see.’ 9 Cette coincidentia oppositorum allait avoir ses échos dans le Tiers Livre (1546) de Rabelais.

9

M.A. Screech, Rabelais (Ithaca 1979), 21.

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

75

Regardons ces trois lettres de plus près. Les deux premières lettres dédicatoires, toutes les deux signées Rabelaesus medicus, servent à mettre en avant la modernité de Rabelais comme médecin. La lettre adressée à Tiraqueau est en fait une introduction à la toute première publication de Rabelais, à savoir son édition du second tome desEpistolae medicinales du médecin italien Giovanni Manardi. Dans son étude Rabelais et la médecine , Roland Antonioli note : ‘il était d’usage qu’un médecin humaniste, pour fêter son entrée dans la famille médicale, pour apporter aussi sa contribution à la découverte et à la correction des vieux textes, commençât sa carrière par une édition savante.’ 10 Or, selon Jean Céard, ‘Retenir pour objet d’une première publication, chargée d’une telle valeur symbolique, l’œuvre d’un moderne, est un choix lourd de sens. Rabelais se range ouvertement parmi les modernes.’ 11 Afin d’afficher cette modernité, Rabelais a recours, tout comme dans la lettre à Budé, au moyen rhétorique de la comparaison, à cette différence près que le second terme de la comparaison, le comparant, reste implicite : il y est question de l’excellence du premier tome des Epistolae medicinales de Manardi, publié à Ferrare en 1521, ce qui implique automatiquement l’excellence du second tome de ses lettres publié par Rabelais. En mettant ce second tome de l’œuvre épistolaire du médecin Manardi à la disposition du grand public, Rabelais se dit d’accord non seulement avec les idées médicales de celui-ci, 12 mais aussi avec sa façon toute moderne de publier ces idées par lettres. Un choix qui peut d’ailleurs leur être reproché, comme le souligne Manardi lui-même, anticipant d’éventuelles critiques : ‘Quelques-uns condamneront cette façon d’enseigner par lettres, comme inusitée en médecine.’ 13 Dans le cas de la deuxième lettre, celle qui introduit les Aphorismes d’Hippocrate, la comparaison est appliquée autrement : Rabelais

R. Antonioli, Rabelais et la médecine (Genève 1976), 72. Voir J. Céard, ‘Rabelais, Tiraqueau et Manardo’, dans M.-L. Demonet (éd.), Les Grands Jours de Rabelais en Poitou (Genève 2006), 217–228 (p. 219). 12 Dans son article cité plus haut, Jean Céard caractérise les aspects de la modernité de Manardi, susceptibles d’intéresser Rabelais : ‘[Manardi] est un moderne en ce qu’il est un restaurateur de l’ancienne médicine’ (p. 220), sachant bien le grec et l’arabe. Il est un galéniste, qui n’hésite pas à critiquer Galien. Il est un médecin philologue, qui associe la théorie à l’observation directe. Tout comme Rabelais, il s’intéresse fortement à la botanique, à la diététique, à l’étude des affections. Certaines expressions médicales chez Rabelais semblent être inspirées par Manardi, et certains passages médicaux du Tiers Livre (l’éloge des dettes ; l’épisode de Rondibilis) contiennent des échos de Manardi. 13 Manardi cité et traduit par Céard, ‘Rabelais, Tiraqueau et Manardo’, 228. 10 11

76

paul j. s mith

commence par critiquer les commentateurs et traducteurs d’Hippocrate et de Galien, ‘qui ne [lui] donnaient pas entièrement satisfaction’ (Œuvres, p. 983), critique qui lui sert de tremplin pour souligner sa propre excellence. Rabelais, en tant que médecin érudit et philologue, a conscience ici de sa responsabilité : il se doit de donner une traduction latine fidèle, basée sur des manuscrits fiables de ce texte grec, car, selon lui, ‘un seul petit mot ajouté ou retranché, ou même un petit signe changé ou déplacé a souvent causé la mort de plusieurs milliers de personnages’ ( Œuvres, p. 984). Dès l’ouverture de sa lettre, Rabelais souligne ainsi l’importance de son rôle dans ce travail éditorial en recourant à l’hyperbole. En voici quelques exemples : il précise qu’il a déjà donné un cours public ‘devant un nombreux auditoire’, et qu’il possède lui-même un ‘manuscrit très ancien écrit en caractères ioniens avec beaucoup d’élégance et de régularité’ (Œuvres, p. 983 ; nous soulignons) ; enfin, en comparant les traductions latines à ce manuscrit et à d’autres, il a découvert que les traducteurs ‘avaient trahi plutôt que traduit’ (Œuvres, p. 983 ; le latin joue sur les verbes vertere et invertere). Sa troisième lettre-dédicace introduit son édition du Testament de Cuspidius, un texte juridique, prétendument antique, que Gryphius et Rabelais ne soupçonnaient pas être un faux, récemment fabriqué en Italie. Dans cette lettre, l’utilisation de la comparaison fait penser au procédé argumentatif utilisé plus tard dans le Prologue du Gargantua, sur le modèle de l’adage érasmien Sileni Alcibiadis. On évoque d’abord l’aspect extérieur, insignifiant à première vue, mais qui cache des trésors insoupçonnés : ‘Le présent que nous vous faisons, très illustre Amaury, est bien modeste, eu égard à son poids, et pourrait à peine remplir la main ; mais, à mon avis du moins, il n’est pas indigne de se trouver sous vos yeux et sous ceux de tous les hommes les plus savants – vos semblables’ (Œuvres, p. 986). Dans ces lettres, Rabelais prend bien soin de souligner la double motivation qui prévaut dans le choix du destinataire : d’une part, une motivation ‘personnelle’, basée sur la ‘reconnaissance’, la lettre dédicacée étant au cœur d’un système d’échanges de dons et de services rendus ; d’autre part, une motivation ‘publique’, qui nécessite d’établir un rapport entre le destinataire et le sujet principal de l’édition. Considérons d’abord la motivation ‘publique’. Celle-ci est la plus repérable dans la lettre à Bouchard, puisque le destinataire est lui-même juriste, tout comme le prétendu auteur édité, Cuspidius. Rabelais profite de l’occasion qu’offre la topique du genre épistolaire pour justifier son initiative d’éditer Cuspidius. Après

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

77

avoir rappelé que son correspondant l’avait prié de lui en procurer une copie, il précise donc : ‘J’ai estimé que cette pièce ne devait pas faire l’objet d’une copie destinée uniquement à votre usage personnel (bien que vous parussiez préférer cette solution), mais, à la première occasion, j’en ai fait imprimer deux milles exemplaires’ (Œuvres, p. 986). Ce n’est donc pas la copie manuscrite, mais une édition imprimée que Rabelais offre à Bouchard. Le fait de préciser le grand nombre de tirages (‘deux mille exemplaires’) est inattendu – et on peut à juste titre se demander si, en agissant ainsi, Rabelais ne veut pas décourager Bouchard de publier le Testament, avant même que celui-ci ait pu en concevoir l’idée . . . Dans sa lettre au juriste Tiraqueau, Rabelais lui rappelle combien celui-ci appréciait les lettres de Manardi. Cependant, comme le remarque Claude La Charité, cela ne suffit pas pour justifier le choix du dédicataire : ‘Voilà sans doute pourquoi Rabelais est contraint de replacer le travail de Manardi dans le vaste contexte de la renaissance des lettres par l’image traditionnelle de l’aube philologique. Tiraqueau est hissé au même rang que Manardi en tant que philologue ayant contribué à dépasser le droit des barbares. C’est en tant que philologue que Tiraqueau peut apprécier Manardi.’ 14 À propos de cette lettre, Fritz Neubert et plusieurs autres critiques après lui ont noté les rapports avec le Pantagruel, et surtout avec la célèbre lettre de Gargantua à son fils. Dans les deux lettres, Rabelais oppose les temps gothiques, ‘ténébreux’ et obscurantistes du Moyen Âge aux lumières de la Renaissance. Pantagruel, chap. 8 (lettre de Gargantua à Pantagruel)

Lettre de Rabelais à Tiraqueau

Le temps estoit encores tenebreux et sentant l’infelicité et calamité des Gothz, qui avoient mis à destruction toute bonne literature. Mais, par la bonté divine, la lumiere et dignité a esté de mon eage rendue es lettres [. . .] Maintenant toutes disciplines sont restituées (Œuvres, p. 243).

Phrase d’ouverture : ‘[. . .] in hac tanta seculi nostri luce, quo disciplinas omneis meliores singulari quodam deorum munere postliminio receptas videmus [. . .] e densa illa Gothici temporis caligine [. . .]’ (Œuvres, p. 979).

14

La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire, 120.

78

paul j. s mith

Il s’agit, bien entendu, d’un lieu commun – mais ce n’est pas un hasard si Rabelais mentionne ce lieu commun dans deux textes au cours de la même année, et cela en des termes similaires. La correspondance savante de Rabelais trouve ici un écho dans son œuvre littéraire, mais science et littérature restent séparées : elles ne se réfèrent pas explicitement l’une à l’autre. Si rapport il y a, il reste implicite, et à sens unique : c’est la fiction romanesque qui semble se référer à la correspondance, et non l’inverse. Dans sa lettre à Estissac, Rabelais rencontre plus de difficultés à motiver le lien entre le destinataire choisi et le sujet de l’édition présentée que dans les deux autres lettres de 1532. C’est sans doute pourquoi cette lettre est conçue, ainsi que le montre le tableau récapitulatif, selon une organisation structurelle plus complexe. La louange du destinataire est renvoyée ici à la fin de la lettre et introduite par la figure de la prétérition : ‘Je ne dirai pas ici la raison qui m’a amené à placer ce travail, quoi qu’il vaille, sous votre patronage’ ( Œuvres, p. 985). Elle est suivie d’un éloge du destinateur, qui ne se limite pas à une seule qualité, mais en énumère plusieurs, suivant en cela l’ amplificatio érasmienne.15 Enfin, le rapport entre le dédicataire et l’ouvrage édité reste implicite. Contrairement aux deux autres lettres de 1532, Rabelais n’utilise pas ici le nom du destinataire pour mettre en valeur son édition, il procède au contraire de façon inverse : le nom d’Hippocrate rayonne sur celui d’Estissac. Ces trois lettres ne sont pas seulement des remerciements, elles offrent aussi un service en retour, en faisant de la publicité à leurs destinataires. C’est surtout le cas pour ‘Le très illustre seigneur évêque de Maillezais’, qui n’est connu que régionalement, c’est-à-dire en Poitou : à cause de ses fonctions épiscopales, Estissac n’a sans doute ni le temps ni l’ambition de se bâtir une renommée à une échelle plus large, en dehors du Poitou. De même, il semble qu’en 1532, malgré ses publications, la réputation de Tiraqueau est encore empreinte de régionalisme – c’est seulement en 1541 que François Ier le nommera conseiller au Parlement de Paris en l’admettant directement à la Grand’ Chambre. En fait, en vantant les ‘beaux Commentaires sur les lois municipales de Poitou ’ de Tiraqueau, c’est-à-dire son De legibus connubialibus (1524), Rabelais ne fait que une logique de réciprocité : le De legibus connubialibus contient non seulement une louange en 15

La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire, 123.

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

79

grec de Tiraqueau par Rabelais, mais aussi quelques passages élogieux de Tiraqueau au sujet de ce dernier – échange de bons procédés poursuivi par Rabelais en 1552, lorsqu’il écrit, dans le prologue du Quart Livre : ‘le bon, le docte, le saige, le tant humain, tant debonnaire, et equitable And. Tiraqueau, conseiller du grand, victorieux, et triumphant roy Henry second de ce nom, en sa tresredoubtée court de parlement à Paris’ (Œuvres, p. 525). Quant à la troisième lettre, adressée à Bouchard, elle fait la promotion, en des termes très élogieux, d’un livre auquel celui-ci travaille, intitulé De architectura orbis (Sur l’architecture du monde) : J’attends tous les jours votre bel et nouveau traité De l’architecture du monde, qui doit avoir été tiré des trésors les plus vénérables de la philosophie. En effet, vous n’avez encore rien publié ou écrit, d’où ne se dégage une science profonde et nourrie d’emprunts, et qui ne semble tout droit sorti de cet antre farouche où, a dit Héraclite, la vérité demeure cachée (Œuvres, p. 987).

Ce traité De architectura orbis, dont on ne connaît pas d’édition imprimée, a été identifié par Claude La Charité, dans un récent article, comme étant le manuscrit intitulé De l’excellence et immortalité de l’ame, extraict du Timée de Platon, conservé à la Bibliothèque nationale. 16 La lettre à Érasme et la querelle du

Ciceronianus

La lettre non fictive de Rabelais la plus connue, celle destinée à Érasme, est un tout autre cas, car elle ne mentionne pas explicitement le nom du destinataire. Ceci laisse supposer que Rabelais ne l’a pas écrite dans l’espoir d’une publication ; et s’il attendit en retour la parution d’une éventuelle réponse d’Érasme, cet espoir resta vain car, malheureusement pour Rabelais, le célèbre humaniste ne répondit jamais. C’est dans cette lettre que l’on trouve la célèbre phrase : ‘Je vous ai nommé ‘père’, je dirais même ‘mère’, si votre indulgence m’y autorisait.’ Une image plutôt audacieuse, qui, selon Claude La Charité, est une allusion à l’Iliade, où Homère écrit : ‘Hector, tu es pour moi tout ensemble, un père, une digne mère.’ 17 Cette référence savante à Homère, ainsi que la C. La Charité, ‘De architectura orbis et De l’excellence et immortalité de l’ame (ca 1532) d’Amaury Bouchard : l’expression figurée et le lieu de l’antécédent’, dans M.-L. Demonet (éd.), Les Grands Jours de Rabelais en Poitou (Genève 2006), 133–143. 17 La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire , 110. 16

80

paul j. s mith

part importante de grec dans cette lettre indiquent que Rabelais recourt aux mêmes moyens et vise les mêmes buts que dans la lettre adressée à Budé : l’étalage de sa grande maîtrise du grec, l’emploi de louanges spirituelles, mais un peu exagérées à notre goût, un vocabulaire et un style cherchant à imiter ceux du destinataire. En outre, tout comme dans sa lettre à Budé, Rabelais utilise le procédé de la connaissance commune : il évoque sa ‘vieille amitié’ avec Georges d’Armagnac et ses ‘relations très familières’ avec Hilaire Bertolphe, l’ancien secrétaire d’Érasme. Ce qui différencie grandement les deux lettres, c’est le principe du do ut des : dans la lettre à Érasme, pour mieux se faire valoir, Rabelais cherche à lui fournir des renseignements utiles, alors que celle à Budé n’a pas d’utilité ‘pratique’ pour le destinataire. La lettre à Érasme présente une utilité pour celui-ci, car Rabelais lui fournit une information au sujet de la véritable identité de l’auteur de l’ Oratio contra Erasmum , paru en 1531, et qui est une violente attaque contre son Ciceronianus, publié en 1528. Rabelais lui apprend que l’auteur de cette attaque n’est pas, comme Érasme le croit, Jérôme Aléandre, mais ‘un certain Scaliger’, médecin de mauvaise réputation et en outre athée, comme le précise Rabelais dans un passage rédigé en grec. Les opinions des critiques divergent sur les raisons qui ont incité Rabelais à utiliser ici le grec. Selon Richard Cooper, ‘As to the four or five lines in Greek about Scaliger, there seems to be no internal reason for the switch of language other than a desire to embellish the letter further [. . .]’18 : cet embellissement servirait donc tout simplement, comme dans la lettre à Budé, à étaler sa maîtrise du grec afin de plaire à son destinataire, dont il imite le style. On a aussi supposé que Rabelais se serait exprimé en grec par prudence. 19 Toutefois, ce principe de précaution nous semble injustifié : tout lecteur humaniste était en mesure de comprendre les accusations violentes que Rabelais portait à l’adresse de Jules-César Scaliger. Nous pensons au contraire que, pour Rabelais, l’utilisation du grec sert non pas à camoufler le message, mais à en souligner l’importance informative. Cela lui permet, dans le même temps, de nuancer sa position : en recourant au grec pour évoquer l’attaque de Scaliger

Cooper, ‘Rabelais’s Neo-Latin Writings’, 52. Ainsi, Claude La Charité citant Fritz Neubert : ‘[Neubert] suppose que le jugement porté par Rabelais sur Scaliger a été écrit en grec, pour éviter les conséquences funestes pouvant découler de l’accusation d’athéisme qu’il porte. Cette supposition n’est pas sans fondement, même si les syntagmes grecs émaillent toutes les lettres latines de Rabelais [. . .]’ (La Rhétorique épistolaire, 86). 18 19

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

81

contre le Ciceronianus, il suggère subtilement que, s’il n’est pas cicéronien, il n’est pas pour autant un imitateur aveugle d’Érasme. En effet, l’humaniste de Rotterdam aurait sans doute rédigé un tel passage en latin, et non en grec. En écrivant cette lettre à Érasme, Rabelais se mêle donc à la querelle savante autour de l’imitation de Cicéron – une discussion qui exige de Rabelais beaucoup de précautions, d’autant que Guillaume Budé (qui, lui non plus, n’hésite pas à écrire en grec, comme on l’a vu) se montrait quelque peu irrité d’avoir été mentionné irrévérencieusement dans le Ciceronianus. Dans le contexte de cette querelle, une question inévitable se pose : comment qualifier le latin de Rabelais. Pour y répondre, nous nous appuyons sur les conclusions de Claude La Charité. Celui-ci a comparé le latin épistolaire de Rabelais aux caractéristiques du latin de Cicéron et des cicéroniens cités par Buléphore, la porte-parole d’Érasme contre Nosopon, cicéronien pur et dur, dans son Ciceronianus. La Charité constate que, quant au style, le latin de Rabelais est bien cicéronien, notamment dans l’emploi de constructions syntaxiques incluant la conjonction de subordination cum, qui ouvre deux de ses lettres, l’expression etiam atque etiam , le balancement tum . . . tum, l’adverbe identidem au lieu de subinde, etc. Ce sont là des tournures typiquement cicéroniennes, si l’on s’en réfère à Érasme-Buléphore. Par contre, au niveau du vocabulaire, le latin de Rabelais compte beaucoup d’emprunts au latin tardif et humaniste, et emploie même des néologismes – ce qui est plutôt une caractéristique de l’érasmisme, et est d’ailleurs recommandé par Érasme dans son De copia verborum ac rerum . La position de Rabelais dans la querelle des cicéroniens est donc quelque peu ambiguë, ou, si l’on veut, nuancée. La lettre de Gargantua à son fils Pantagruel, étudiant à Paris, le confirme. Dans cette lettre, Gargantua lui conseille de former son style ‘quant à la grecque, à l’imitation de Platon, quant à la latine, à Cicéron.’ Quoique Cicéron soit mentionné comme le seul exemple à suivre pour le latin, la mention de Platon – champion de la variation stylistique – comme modèle pour le grec semble exclure toute interprétation restrictive de l’imitation cicéronienne. D’autres passages du roman, où Cicéron est cité sans mention spéciale parmi d’autres prosateurs latins, l’attestent. À la fin du livre, un texte comique met également en scène les activités de Démocrite et de Cicéron en Enfer. Dans ce monde à l’envers, typique de l’univers carnavalesque, on a attribué à Démocrite la profession de vigneron, pour le punir d’avoir écrit ex aqua au lieu d’ex vino. Cicéron,

82

paul j. s mith

lui, est devenu ‘attisefeu’, c’est-à-dire celui qui ‘attise ou ranime le feu’ (Œuvres, p. 322–323), car on lui suppose assez de souffle pour ranimer un feu : il est donc assimilé à un soufflet, sa rhétorique est une rhétorique de la boursouflure, pleine de vent, comme le dira Montaigne dans ses Essais. Nous souhaitons ouvrir ici une parenthèse au sujet du rôle que joue le deuxième livre de Rabelais, Gargantua (1535), dans la querelle du cicéronianisme, et en particulier dans le débat autour du second Discours de Scaliger contre le Ciceronianus d’Érasme (publié en 1537, mais rédigé depuis 1535). Considérons notamment le Prologue du Gargantua, où Rabelais s’attribue la persona d’un auteur ivre, nommé Alcofrybas : ‘Car à la composition de ce livre seigneurial, je ne perdiz ne emploiay oncques plus ny aultre temps, que celluy qui estoit estably à prendre ma refection corporelle : sçavoir est, beuvant et mangeant’ ( Œuvres, p. 7). Une fois cela dit, s’appuyant sur l’autorité d’Horace, il poursuit en prenant comme célèbres modèles Homère et Ennius : ‘Comme bien faire sçavoit Homere paragon de tous Philologes, et Ennie pere des poetes latins, ainsi que tesmoigne Horace, quoy qu’un malautru ait dict, que ses carmes sentoyent plus le vin que l’huile’ ( Œuvres, p. 7). L’autorité de ces citations lui permet de ne pas se soucier le moins du monde des critiques qu’il a reçues à propos de son premier livre : ‘Autant en dict un Tirelupin de mes livres, mais bren pour luy. L’odeur du vin o combien plus est friant, riant, priant, plus celeste, et delicieux que d’huille ?’ (Œuvres, p. 7). Et Alcofrybas de continuer à se défendre sur le même mode grotesque : Et prendray autant à gloire qu’on die de moy, que plus en vin aye despendu que en huyle, que fist Demosthenes, quand de luy on disoit, que plus en huyle que en vin despendoit. A moy n’est que honneur et gloire, d’estre dict et reputé bon gaultier et bon compaignon : et en ce nom suis bien venu en toutes bonnes compaignies de Pantagruelistes : à Demosthenes fut reproché par un chagrin que ses oraisons sentoyent comme la serpillière d’un ord et sale huillier ( Œuvres, p. 7–8).

Les jugements négatifs sur le style laborieux de Démosthène et l’opposition entre le vin et l’huile ont été probablement inspirés par le Ciceronianus d’Érasme, où l’on trouve mentionnés, dans un contexte comparable, les noms de Démosthène, Ennius et Horace. Nosopon y déclare en effet qu’il ne se sent en rien supérieur à Démosthène (‘non sum melior Demosthene’), et qu’en conséquence, il ne craint pas d’encourir le reproche que ses écrits puent l’huile ( ASD I-2, 616,

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

83

l. 2–5). Quelques lignes plus haut, Nosopon a d’ailleurs catégoriquement refusé de suivre l’exemple d’Ennius. Lorsque l’un de ses interlocuteurs, Hypologue, cite le vers d’Horace ‘Ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma / prosiluit dicenda’ ( Epîtres 1, 19, l. 6–7), Nosopon répond : ‘Et ideo scripsit [Ennius] vinum olentia carmina’, avant de conclure par ‘Quid agat furor poëticus, nihil ad nos, Ciceronianum esse sobria res est’ ( ASD I-2, 613, l. 33–36). Ce ‘ malautru’, ce ‘chagrin’ dont parle Alcofrybas, sans préciser de qui il s’agit, pourrait donc très bien être Nosopon, qui, au début du Ciceronianus, est présenté comme un homme chagriné, souffrant d’un mal intérieur ( nosos signifiant ‘maladie’). On pourrait se demander pourquoi Rabelais fait ici allusion à ce passage spécifique du Ciceronianus. La réponse à cette question se trouve peut-être dans la deuxième attaque de Scaliger contre le Ciceronianus. Cette diatribe, publiée en 1537, fut rédigée au même moment que le Gargantua, c’est-à-dire en 1535. Comme Scaliger n’était pas homme à cacher ses projets d’écriture, il est probable que Rabelais était au courant de ses intentions et du contenu global de ce texte, tout comme il avait entendu parler, quelques années auparavant, de la première Oratio contre Érasme, avant même de l’avoir lue. Si donc le texte de Rabelais et celui de Scaliger ne se font pas directement écho, chacun à sa manière exploite cependant la même image antagoniste de l’ivresse (connotée positivement chez Rabelais et négativement chez Scaliger) opposée au labeur cicéronien, lequel implique de longues nuits de veille passées sous la lampe à huile et une surcharge de travail générant un état maladif. En voici un exemple : Tandis que tu décriais Cicéron, dont tu n’avais pu atteindre les qualités, j’imitais cet orateur que j’allais devoir défendre. Plein de vin, tu dormais en ronflant ; moi je ruisselais de sueur, épuisé par les veilles. Tu buvais ; moi, alors même que le dîner, prêt et servi, se gâtait depuis longtemps, desséché par la soif, amaigri par le jeûne, oublieux de moi-même, épuisé, mes muscles saillants disparus, pâle, les yeux jaunis, je me repaissais de l’espoir d’obtenir la renommée littéraire qui m’apparaissait si précieuse que, elle seule mise à part, toutes les autres choses me semblaient plus que méprisables.20

20 Je cite la traduction de Michel Magnien dans son édition de Jules-César Scaliger, Oratio pro M. Tvllio Cicerone contra Des. Erasmvm (1531). Adversvs Des. Erasmi Roterod. Dialogvm Ciceronianvm Oratio secvnda (1537) (Genève 1999), 328.

84

paul j. s mith

Le Prologue de Gargantua tire une grande partie de son comique de cette confrontation avec le texte de Scaliger. Alcofrybas, ‘beuvant en mangeant’, semble parodier les propos du pauvre Scaliger, et imiter ainsi, sur le mode grotesque, l’image haïssable que celui-ci donne d’Érasme. Du point de vue du cicéronianisme, on constate donc que Rabelais se sert du Pantagruel et du Gargantua pour nuancer sa position dans cette délicate affaire. On remarque cependant qu’aucune de ses lettres ne visent à faire la promotion de sa production littéraire française. Exception faite de la toute dernière lettre-dédicace, la correspondance ne fait aucune allusion à l’œuvre fictionnelle de Rabelais. Lettre humaniste et fiction romanesque restent relativement indépendantes l’une de l’autre. Les lettres d’Italie En 1534, Rabelais publie une autre édition latine, à savoir la Topographia antiquae Romae par Barthélemy Marliani, précédée d’une lettre dédicatoire au futur cardinal Jean du Bellay, ambassadeur de France à Rome. Rabelais, qui est au service du cardinal depuis 1533 comme médecin, ouvre sa lettre en lui exprimant toute sa gratitude pour ‘l’immense accumulation des bienfaits dont vous avez cru devoir me combler et m’honorer [. . .]’ (Œuvres, p. 988). Suit alors un long éloge de Du Bellay, qui évoque surtout sa parfaite maîtrise du latin : comme le rappelle Rabelais, les Italiens restaient admiratifs devant l’éloquence de l’ambassadeur, qui était ‘pour ainsi dire le seul à parler latin dans le Latium’ (Œuvres, p. 989). Ici, on se trouve face à un paradoxe. Richard Cooper, à l’instar de Fritz Neubert, après avoir souligné l’importance des références au Brutus et au De oratore de Cicéron dans cet éloge de l’éloquence de Du Bellay, conclut en effet : ‘In this letter [Rabelais] seems consciously to be modelling himself on Cicero [. . .].’ Le passage élogieux sur Du Bellay, poursuit-il, ‘is perhaps the best example of Rabelais’s grand style in Latin : ornate, allusive, hyperbolical, full of carefully structured rhetorical patterns.’21 Cette conclusion nous semble quelque peu hâtive. C’est que, dans cette lettre, Rabelais prend soin de distinguer le latin 21

Cooper, ‘Rabelais’s Neo-Latin Writings’, 54 et 59.

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

85

cicéronien de Du Bellay, qui impressionne tant les Italiens, et son propre style, marqué plutôt par la varietas érasmienne, qui puise dans un champ lexical beaucoup plus large et diversifié. En effet, Claude La Charité observe que, à la différence des lettres précédentes, celle-ci ne présente pas les caractéristiques du latin cicéronien énumérées par Érasme-Bulephore, et que de ce fait, elle est, de toutes les lettres latines de Rabelais, celle qui affiche le moins son cicéronianisme. On peut s’interroger sur les motivations de Rabelais : peut-être voulait-il éviter toute association problématique au latin cicéronien de Jean du Bellay lui-même, qui, pour être apprécié des Italiens, frôlait en fait le ‘nosoponisme’ ridiculisé par les érasmiens. Dans cette lettre, encore plus que dans les précédentes, Rabelais se présente comme un véritable savant international, qui a voyagé en Italie pour trois raisons : discuter avec les savants italiens ‘sur quelques délicats problèmes’, faire des études médicinales sur la faune et la flore italiennes, et, enfin, projet le plus ambitieux de tous, réaliser une topographie de la ville de Rome. Notre auteur évoque avec une grande assurance la réussite de ces trois projets. À propos des deux premiers, il déclare : ‘Mon premier projet ne réussit pas mal, quoique le succès ne fût pas en tout conforme à mes désirs. Pour ce qui est des végétaux et des animaux, l’Italie n’en a aucun que nous n’ayons vu et connu auparavant’ (Œuvres, p. 990–991). Quant au troisième, il nous le détaille avec une grande précision technique. Cette précision est d’autant plus étonnante que ce projet n’est pas destiné à voir le jour. Rabelais explique en effet qu’il a dû l’abandonner à cause de la publication de la topographie de Marliani. Ce disant, Rabelais fait donc d’une pierre deux coups : en louant Marliani, il fait son propre éloge. Du point de vue d’une stratégie et d’une carrière d’écrivain, les autres lettres d’Italie, c’est-à-dire celles écrites à Estissac et celles reçues de Guillaume Pellicier, sont moins intéressantes. Il s’agit surtout pour Rabelais de consolider sa position nouvellement acquise. Ainsi, les trois lettres de Pellicier à Rabelais, qui datent du début des années 1540, témoignent d’une relation d’égalité entre deux hommes de métier, tous deux humanistes, l’un juriste, l’autre médecin. Pellicier écrit pour lui demander son opinion sur certains aspects médicaux et juridiques concernant le cas d’un enfant septimestre. Il lui rappelle également, à plusieurs reprises, de lui envoyer certains grains que Rabelais lui a promis, et il l’informe de la transcription des manuscrits grecs à laquelle il est en train de travailler. Dans le cas des lettres adressées à

86

paul j. s mith

Estissac, Rabelais, encore dépendant de celui-ci financièrement, s’emploie à lui demander de l’argent en échange des services qu’il lui a rendus, à savoir l’envoi d’objets et de nouvelles provenant d’Italie. La dispositio de ces lettres témoigne d’une habileté quasi diplomatique de la part de l’épistolier pour parvenir à ses buts – habileté qui, certes, mériterait une étude approfondie, mais qui dépasse le sujet du présent article. Contentons-nous de constater ici que la différence de ton et de traitement entre les lettres dédicatoires et ces lettres personnelles est immense, et cela est encore plus vrai dans le cas de la courte lettre que Rabelais envoie à Du Bellay en 1547, depuis Metz, pour lui demander de l’argent. Notons en outre que, dans toutes ces lettres, il n’est aucunement question des œuvres fictionnelles de Rabelais. Correspondance et littérature sont, encore une fois, bien délimitées. La Sciomachie Cette description détaillée des festivités organisées par Jean du Bellay en l’honneur de la naissance du prince Louis d’Orléans, et qui fait indirectement et implicitement l’éloge de Du Bellay en personne, présente un caractère épistolographique problématique. Considérons d’abord le titre : la sciomachie et festins faits a rome au palais de mon seigneur reverendissime Cardinal Du Bellay, pour l’heureuse naissance de mon seigneur d’Orléans. Le tout extraict d’une copie des lettres escrites à mon seigneur le reverendissime Cardinal de Guise, par M. François Rabelais, docteur en medicine. Presque tous les commentateurs affirment que ce texte est extrait des lettres écrites par Rabelais à Charles de Lorraine, Cardinal de Guise. Mais, comme le remarque Richard Cooper, il est peu probable que Rabelais ait été en contact épistolaire avec celui-ci, et il s’agirait plutôt de lettres écrites par Du Bellay à Guise. 22 Selon cette hypothèse, Rabelais aurait utilisé les minutes, aujourd’hui perdues, de cette correspondance. Sur le plan grammatical, cette hypothèse implique, selon nous, une certaine ambiguïté dans la rédaction du titre : d’un point de vue syntaxique, le groupe nominal ‘par M. François Rabelais’ ne serait pas complément d’agent du participe ‘escrites’, mais du participe ‘extrait’. Il faudrait donc lire : ‘le tout est extrait par Rabelais des copies

22

Cooper, Rabelais et l’Italie, 75–77.

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

87

des lettres écrites par Du Bellay à Guise.’ Vu le grand soin que Rabelais a pris en donnant ce texte et la touche personnelle qu’il a apportée – visible dans l’orthographe, caractéristique de Rabelais, 23 du mot ‘medicine’ au lieu de ‘medecine’ – on soupçonne que cette ambiguïté grammaticale dans le titre a été voulue par Rabelais. En laissant dans le vague la véritable identité de l’auteur de ces lettres, elle lui permet de réaffirmer sa réputation de savant épistolier sans toutefois commettre un plagiat compromettant. Il faut noter que Rabelais, tout en transformant les lettres de Du Bellay en description épidictique, a souhaité cependant conserver le caractère épistolaire du texte source. Cela se voit non seulement dans le titre, mais aussi dans une formule comme : ‘mais ce propos excéderoit la juste quantité d’une epistre.’ Claude La Charité a démontré que Rabelais, en procédant ainsi, a voulu rattacher ce texte au genre épistolaire de la lettre de Rome, le Romsbrief, et ce dans le but de valoriser et d’authentifier les festivités décrites.24 D’autres raisons font de la Sciomachie une pièce importante dans l’histoire générale de l’épistolographie, et notamment l’insistance, au début du texte, sur la façon miraculeuse dont la nouvelle de la naissance du prince, avec tous ses détails, est parvenue le jour même à Rome. Et Rabelais de mentionner encore d’autres cas de nouvelles immédiatement transmises, tant dans l’Antiquité qu’à l’époque moderne. Rabelais ne donne pas la solution à ce mystère, qui, selon Michael A. Screech, pourrait s’expliquer par l’utilisation de pigeons voyageurs. Cette pratique, déjà décrite par Pline l’Ancien ( Histoire naturelle 10, 53, 110) était encore un secret bien gardé dans les années 40. 25 C’est aussi la première fois ici que la partie romanesque de l’œuvre rabelaisienne peut se relier directement à la partie épistolaire. Si l’édition de 1548 du Quart Livre ne fait pas encore mention des pigeons voyageurs, celle de 1552 consacre toute une page au phénomène : c’est en effet par le ‘Gozal celeste messaigier’ (Œuvres, p. 543) que Pantagruel, lors de sa traversée de l’océan, reste en contact avec son père

23 M. Huchon, Rabelais grammairien. De l’histoire du texte aux problèmes d’authenticité (Genève 1981), 219–222. 24 C. La Charité, ‘ La Sciomachie (1548) de Rabelais : la ‘juste quantité d’une epistre’ ou l’alibi épistolaire de la propagande épidictique’, dans Tangence 72 (été 2003), 111–126. 25 Screech, Rabelais, 320.

88

paul j. s mith

Gargantua. Ainsi, le Quart Livre fournit une réponse à une question laissée ouverte dans la Sciomachie. À titre de conclusion La toute dernière lettre de Rabelais confirme bien cette tendance : cette lettre, dédiée au cardinal Odet de Châtillon, est la seule à mentionner l’œuvre fictionnelle de Rabelais, se mettant même au service de la fiction littéraire. Dans une première partie qui relève de la catégorie érasmienne de la purgatoria, Rabelais se défend en effet contre ses détracteurs. Ce faisant, cette lettre assume donc une fonction réservée jusqu’ici aux prologues. Pour conclure, la plupart des lettres conservées de Rabelais révèlent une stratégie d’auteur, qui implique de les lire comme un ensemble, et non séparément. Cette stratégie vise à se faire une place dans la République des Lettres humanistes et savantes, qui se distingue des réseaux littéraires français plus régionalisés. Une tentative d’intégration qui s’opère en plusieurs étapes bien distinctes : d’abord la lettre non-publiée à Budé, puis les lettres-dédicaces, éditées selon une stratégie savamment orchestrée, entre 1532 et 1534. Si la lettre à Érasme marque en quelque sorte un échec, les lettres ultérieures, publiées ou non-publiées, visent à consolider la position acquise. Enfin, il est frappant de constater que l’œuvre fictionnelle n’est pas mentionnée dans cette correspondance, sauf dans la toute dernière lettre-dédicace. Malgré certaines ressemblances de contenu ou de style, la fiction et l’épistolaire restent donc séparés.

correspondance

et stratégie d

’auteur

89

Annexe année

Lieu

1521

Fontenay- Guillaume le-Comte Budé

1525 ( ?)

destinataire genre / publication

typologie selon langue(s) Erasme et/ou Fabri26

lettre

epistula conciliatoria

latin [grec 20 %]27

Jean Bouchet

épître en vers

1. expostularia 2. lettre visitative sans matière

français

1532

Lyon

André Tiraqueau

épître-dédicace : commendatitia Manardi, Epistolae Medicinales (Gryphe)

1532

Lyon

Geoffroy d’Estissac

latin épître-dédicace : 1. disputatoria [grec 3 %] Hippocrate, 2. lettre Aphorismes démonstrative de (Gryphe) blâme 3. lettre démonstrative de louange

1532

Lyon

Amaury Bouchard

épître-dédicace : 1. lettre missive latin Cuspidius, d’octroi de grâce [grec 12 %] Testamentum 2. lettre missive (Gryphe) pour demander une grâce

1532

Lyon

Erasme

lettre

1534

Lyon

Jean du Bellay

épître-dédicace : 1. gratiarum latin Marliani, 2. lettre [grec 1 %] Topographia démonstrative de Romae (Gryphe) louange 3. disputatoria

26 27

1. gratiarum 2. lettre sur les mœurs et conditions de certains

latin [grec 4 %]

latin [grec 14 %]

Source : La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire. Source des pourcentages de grec : La Charité, La Rhétorique épistolaire, 159.

90

paul j. s mith

(cont.) année

Lieu

destinataire genre / publication

typologie selon langue(s) Erasme et/ou Fabri26

déc. 1535 Rome janv. 1536 fév. 1536

Geoffroy d’Estissac

lettre

nunciatio français – lettres démonstratives de compte rendus – disputatoria

1542

Saint-Ay

Antoine Hullot

lettre

epistula jocosa

français [latin de cuisine]

1547

Metz

Jean du Bellay

lettre

petitoria

français

1549

Rome

Jean du Bellay

Sciomachie (Gryphe)

1552

Paris

Odet de Châtillon

épître-dédicace : 1. purgatio français Quart Livre 2. lettre démonstrative de louange 3. gratiarum

français

PART II

HUMANIST LETTERS AS A MIRROR OF THE REFORMATION

TRANSLATION IN THE SERVICE OF POLITICS AND RELIGION: A FAMILY TRADITION FOR THOMAS MORE, MARGARET ROPER AND MARY CLARKE BASSET * Brenda M. Hosington (Montreal-Warwick) In early Renaissance England, as elsewhere, translation was very often ideologically motivated. The ideology could be that of the soul, the body politic, or the market place. Translation and translators were in fact often in the service of politics and religion and played a crucial role in advancing agendas in both areas of activity. This is certainly true in the case of the three members of the More family discussed in this article, although the relationship of translation to religion and politics manifests itself in different ways in the three generations. For Thomas More (1478–1535), they were intertwined throughout his public life. For his daughter, Margaret Roper (1515?–1535), the relationship took a different turn with her English translation of Erasmus’ Precatio dominica in septem portiones distributa. Lastly, for her daughter, Mary Clarke Basset († 1572), neither her translation of Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History nor that of her grandfather’s De tristitia was entirely free of those co-existing political and religious dimensions that characterized More’s writings on translation or influenced her mother’s rendering of Erasmus. In the case of all three family members, the relationship of translation to politics and religion is reflected, not only in their compositions, but also in epistolary form, in both private correspondence and dedicatory letters. Thomas More More himself translated only one complete work, Giovanni Francesco’s biography of his uncle, Pico della Mirandola, some epigrams from the Greek Anthology, some of Lucian’s Dialogues, in friendly competition

* I should like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for financial support in preparing this article.

94

brenda m. hosington

with Erasmus, and various Scriptural quotations that are scattered throughout his works. Nor did he write a treatise on translation. However, he expressed very firm views on what constituted good and bad translating practices, above all speaking out strongly on the dangers of mistranslation, be it accidental or intentional. As with many other humanist writers, his concept of translation is closely bound up with that of language in general, a subject that I have explored in detail elsewhere.1 It is also inextricably linked to questions of religion and, ultimately, politics too. More’s involvement with the thorny issues of biblical translating was on several occasions couched in epistolary form. It manifested itself in three ‘letter-essays’, to borrow Daniel Kinney’s term, written between 1515 and 1519 to defend his friend Erasmus, whose 1516 Greek New Testament and its Latin translation were facing an onslaught of criticism voiced by theologians. 2 In the first, addressed to the Leuven humanist and theologian Martin Dorp in 1515, More refutes the argument that textual emendations arising from perceived mistakes in the Greek ‘might cause the faithful to waver’, or that the co-existence of various translations might produce confusion. He encourages Dorp to learn Greek because of the paucity of translations and places Erasmus of Greek authors, both classical and patristic, squarely in the tradition of St Jerome, rather than seeing the two men as adversaries.3 In 1519, and again in 1520, More wrote to the English conservative clergyman Edward Lee, who at first befriended Erasmus in Leuven but soon became his fierce detractor.4 Again, the bone of contention was Erasmus’ Greek New Testament and its Latin translation. Lee had condemned it in two letters sent to More and in the second had announced his intention to publish his annotations reveal-

B.M. Hosington, ‘Thomas More’s Views on Language and Translation and their Place in the Classical and Humanist Tradition’, in Moreana 40 (2003), 69–98. 2 D. Kinney, In Defense of Humanism , The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More, 15 (New Haven-London 1986), xvii. Quotations from More’s three ‘letter-essays’ and polemical writings will be taken from the Complete Works, shortened to CW. Other letters will be quoted from The Correspondence of Sir Thomas More, F. Rogers (ed.) (Princeton 1947), shortened to Rogers. 3 CW 15, 99, l. 11–21; 101, l. 5–8. 4 The 1519 letter is in CW 15, 152–194. It was first published in the Antwerp edition of Epistolae aliquot eruditorum in May 1520, along with others defending Erasmus. The two 1520 letters that appeared in the second edition of Epistolae published in Basel three months later are in Rogers, 206–212, nos 84 and 85. 1

translation

in the service of politics and religion

95

ing Erasmus’ mistranslations and inaccurate emendations. 5 However, it is in a strongly-worded letter addressed to an English monk, John Batmanson, that More addresses the question of scriptural translation in the greatest detail. Batmanson, in a letter sent to More that circulated among anti-Erasmians, had attacked the second edition of Erasmus’ New Testament published in March 1519, both in personal and more general terms. As in his letter to Lee, More rests his defence on the example of St. Jerome, thereby turning on its head the arguments advanced by those who accused Erasmus of betraying the Vulgate and its author. In particular, he pens a long apology for Erasmus’ translation of John 1:1, ‘in the beginning was the word’. 6 Erasmus had supplanted the Vulgate verbum by sermo, a change that aroused Batmanson’s and others’ ire. Erasmus had explained his choice in his 1520 Apologia de In principio erat sermo , following criticism by another English clergyman, Henry Standish. More also refutes Batmanson’s other accusations concerning translation: the mingling of Greek and Latin words, the ‘watering down’ of St Jerome’s version, the profusion of earlier translations making Erasmus’ work superfluous, and the danger of provoking schism. Thus in three long letters, More tackles the burning question of scriptural translation, defending in particular Erasmus’ Latin New Testament but in more general terms the principles of humanist philological translation, steering a course between the Scylla of conservative theology represented by Dorp, Lee and Batmanson and the Charybdis of radical reform represented by an earlier English Bible translator like John Wycliffe. In the years that followed, More turned once again to the subject of biblical translation but this time in a different mode and a very different context, that of creeping Protestantism. Letters were to give way to polemical compositions. In his 1523 Responsio ad Lutherum , published under a pseudonym, he attacked amongst other things Luther’s defence of Scripture as sole authority for Christians, doing so by pointing out the dangers of mistranslations, themselves often the result of mistakes in faulty source texts. As an example he took some Pauline epistles: some are lost, others are translated incorrectly, ambiguously, or simply in a contradictory fashion. The meaning is thus unclear and

5 Edward Lee, Annotationes in Annotationes Noui Testamenti Desiderii Erasmi (Paris 1520). 6 CW 15, 236, l. 3–248 (l. 28).

96

brenda m. hosington

controversial.7 He also attacks Luther’s Latin grammar that leads him to indulge in ‘ungrammared’ heresies. 8 Thus, for example, his misinterpretation of the words ‘hoc est corpus meum’ (this is my body) and ‘hic est enim sanguis meus’ (this is my blood) supports his denial of the Real Presence in the sacrament of communion. 9 His lack of Latin grammar prods him into believing that any interpretation of the Bible is allowed as long as it ‘seems alright to the faithful’. So far so good for More, defender of and theological counselor to the king. As the decade wore on, the spread of heresy in England, facilitated by the importation of translations and other works, from Leuven and Antwerp in particular, was to involve More in more direct action. His 1528 Dialogue Concerning Heresies is of particular interest to us because of the extended discussion of vernacular biblical translation. He is not, he says in a spirited defence of the English language, opposed to translating the Scriptures into English, which is a perfectly adequate vehicle for doing so, despite some opinions to the contrary. 10 He is, however, against mistranslating them with the purpose of misleading ignorant readers, as Tyndale does out of ‘mischieviousness’. He spells out the great difficulty of translating Scripture: ‘in translacyon it is harde alwaye to kepe the same sentence [meaning] hole’, as St Jerome knew.11 William Tyndale, however, in opposite mode, seeks to change the meaning of words. More’s attack on the translation of ecclesia as ‘congregation’ rather than ‘church’, of presbyter as ‘elder’ or ‘senior’ rather than ‘priest’, of caritas as ‘love’ rather than ‘charity’ and so on is based on semantic grounds but also on the importance of context for translation and the Horatian principle of common usage. Above all, however, More sees in such mistranslations willful efforts to deceive, inspired by ideological impulse. 12 In 1530, the vexed question of an English translation of the Bible was debated by Henry’s Royal Commission, in the context of Tyndale’s popular, but heretical and banned, 1526 New Testament. The Commission, of which More was a member, was not generally favourable to an English translation, although More had earlier declared himself

7 8 9 10 11 12

CW 5, 99, l. 37–39 and l. 1014. CW 5, 466, l. 20. CW 5, 450–458. CW 6, 337, l. 21–26. CW 6, 315, l. 26–27. CW 6, 287, l. 16–293 (l. 11).

translation

in the service of politics and religion

97

not opposed to one. Henry shared their opinion but, the Commission proclaimed, had promised to have the New Testament ‘faithfully and purely translated into Englishe tonge’ at a time he considered appropriate.13 Yet a new wave of English translations from Antwerp soon began to unfurl on the English shore. More’s reaction was swift, his book burning—and heretic burning—intensified. With this attitude towards heretical translation, he was in the king’s favour. However, darker days lay ahead. As Henry’s wrath towards Protestants decreased somewhat, while his attraction to Anne Boleyn and determination to divorce Catherine of Aragon increased, More found it more and more difficult to remain in the king’s favour and in 1532 resigned. He now turned his attention once again to polemical activities. His belief that it was essential to find a way out of the political and religious turmoil he alludes to in his preface to his next work, the 1532–1533 Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer , was most certainly sincere. Nevertheless, he undoubtedly also saw his polemical writing as a means of compensating for his personal political failure and, more important, of escaping Henry’s wrath. The king’s displeasure with him is amply illustrated in a letter he wrote to Erasmus in 1532. 14 So far, he had, in Richard Marius’ words, which provide an alternative metaphor to our navigating between Scylla and Charybdis, ‘made his way cautiously along the slippery precipice of royal favour.’ 15 Now, however, he was disgraced. Of all his writings, The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer is the most illustrative of More’s attitude towards religious translation. It was a response to Tyndale’s 1531 Answer to More’s Dialogue, itself a reply to More’s earlier Dialogue Concerning Heresies. Amongst other things, Tyndale had refuted More’s criticism of his New Testament, particularly his translation of certain words, which we mentioned earlier. More now attacks other aspects of the translation that deform the meaning of the original text: ignoring differences in syntax between languages, which Tyndale does in his opening sentences of St John’s Gospel and which can lead to an incomprehensible or even contradictory

13 Quoted in L.A. Schuster’s Introduction to The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer , CW 8, Pt. III: ‘More’s Polemical Career’, 1210. 14 P.S. Allen, Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdami denuo recogitum et auctum per P.S. Allen (Oxford 1906), 10, 2659, l. 32. 15 R. Marius, Thomas More. A Biography (New York 1985), 363.

98

brenda m. hosington

translation;16 changing the meanings of words, although it is a ‘naughtye translatour’ who would willfully change the meaning of a word in a scriptural translation, even if that is allowable in a ‘prophane comen storye’;17 choosing words that are inappropriate for contemporary English readers and do not respect the rules of common usage, again a fault of which Tyndale is guilty; 18 and finally, disobeying grammatical rules, which Tyndale does with the definite article, which performs a deictic function in English, and the use of ‘yes’ and ‘yea’ and ‘no’ and ‘nay’ in response to negative or affirmative questions. These last, More concedes, may not be important but they undermine a translator’s credibility, which of course is exactly what he is doing to Tyndale. ‘Though I can not make hym by no meane to wryte trewe mater’, he adds sarcastically, ‘I wolde haue hym yet at the leste wyse wryte trew englyshe.’19 Translation, then, is a matter of importance to More, spoken of frequently and often at length in his writings, from his early humanist defence of Erasmus in the form of letters, written of course for public consumption, through his criticism of Luther and Tyndale to the time when he was drawn into the political and religious waters in which he would flounder and eventually drown. But it had also appeared elsewhere in his writings, in a quite different context. In his ‘Letter to his children and Margaret Gyge’, probably sent in 1522, More enjoins them to write their letters first in English, then ‘turn’ or translate (transferre) them into Latin. 20 According to Thomas Stapleton, More’s first biographer, the children also practised ‘double translation’, or ‘back translation’ as it is now called, turning English into Latin and then back into English. 21 The exercise is praised by both Quintilian and humanist educators. More’s eldest daughter and prize pupil, Margaret, must therefore have practised translating throughout her childhood and on into adulthood. However, only one such text has survived, her English translation of Erasmus’ Precatio dominica in septem portiones distributa , a paraphrase on the Pater Noster published in Basel in 1523. CW 8, 236, l. 3–12. CW 8, 186, l. 30–35. 18 CW 8, 187, l. 1–12. 19 CW 8, 232, l. 10–12. 20 Rogers, Ep. 107, l. 255–257. 21 Thomas Stapleton, The Life and Illustrious Martyrdom of Sir Thomas More, trans. P.E. Hallett, ed. E.E. Reynolds (New York 1966), 92. 16 17

translation

in the service of politics and religion Margaret

99

Roper

Margaret Roper, as she became, had a rather special relationship with Erasmus which is revealed in several of his letters. In 1519 he wrote about Margaret, her sisters and her brother to Ulrich von Hutten and in 1521, in much more detail, to Guillaume Budé, when he specifically praised the girls for never being idle or busying themselves with the foolish matters that women enjoy (two typical male accusations of the time).22 His compliments were all the more elaborate in his 1523 dedicatory letter to John More prefacing his commentary on Nux Ovidii.23 He also wrote two letters to Margaret. The first, dated Christmas 1523, prefaced his gift to her on the birth of her first child, his commentary on Prudentius’ hymns for Christmas and Epiphany. He addresses her as castissimae puellae (very virtuous young girl) and praises her letters and those of her sisters, which bear the stamp of their father, a compliment that will be echoed by other commentators on the More daughters.24 The second letter dates from 1529 and is this time addressed to her as Britanniae tuae decus (glory of your British land). It thanks her for her portrait of the More family executed by Holbein. His special feeling for Margaret is expressed by saying that he recognizes nobody more easily than her and he adds elegantly: ‘Videre mihi videbar per pulcherrimum domicilium relucentem animum multo pulchriorem’ (It seems to me that I see shining through the very beautiful exterior a more beautiful soul). 25 This letter inspired the only extant holograph document written by Margaret. In her letter of 4 November 1529, she tells Erasmus that every time she shows his letter to friends, she significantly adds to her reputation, which otherwise could not be made more famous. 26 The comment is of particular interest. Margaret is obviously proud of being singled out for Erasmus’ friendship and conscious of her reputation. Perhaps she is no longer the self-effacing young woman that her father complimented for modestly not seeking ‘the praise of the public’ and warned that she would have to content herself with an audience composed of only her father and husband. 27

22 23 24 25 26 27

Allen, Ep. 4, 999, l. 18–19 and 4, 1233, l. 577. Allen, Ep. 4, 1402, l. 364–365. Allen, Ep. 4, 1404, l. 366. Allen, Ep. 4, 2212, l. 274. Allen, Ep. 8, 2233, l. 300. Rogers, Ep. 128, l. 302.

100

brenda m. hosington

Nor perhaps for that matter is she still the self-effacing young translator whose name did not appear on her only published work, her translation of Erasmus’ Precatio dominica. Margaret’s Deuout treatise upon the pater noster , as the translation is entitled, was published by Thomas Berthelet, probably in 1524, the date given in the preface, or at the latest 1526, with a reedition in 1531. The work was edited and introduced by Richard Hyrde, a member of the More household, and dedicated to the young Frances Staverton, a cousin of Margaret’s. Hyrde’s message to her is to study hard, emulating the translator, a ‘young virtuous and well learned gentylwoman of xix yere of age’, who remains anonymous. No translation can be divorced from the personal, linguistic and socio-cultural context in which it was created. As we suggested at the beginning of this article, a translator may have a specific agenda in mind when choosing a text to translate; similarly, an editor or a printer may have an agenda in publishing it. In the case of Margaret Roper’s translation, several motives might have caused it to see print. Margaret might have simply wished it to be a way of reciprocating Erasmus’ gesture of generosity in sending her the Prudentius commentary, or a way of proving herself worthy of his praise in the accompanying letter. The question of her authorial anonymity, like that of her personal motives, remains intriguing. We shall never know whether it originated in the ‘feminine modesty’ to which we alluded above or whether it simply reflects contemporary disapproving attitudes towards female publishing. The publication of the translation, however, could surely not have taken place without the More family’s permission. Perhaps two factors in the religious and political context of the mid-1520s contributed to the translation’s appearance in print: the desire to increase Erasmian piety in England and the debate over women’s education. In discussing Erasmus’ influence in England, James McConica states that his ‘blend of humanism and religious reform [. . .] was the characteristic allegiance of the whole English humanist com28 In fact, munity in the years before the crisis of the royal divorce.’ of course, English Erasmian piety could be traced back well before this. Another Margaret—Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII’s grandmother—had played a role in furthering devotional literature of an Erasmian flavour, both at court and university, and had her28

J.K. McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics (Oxford 1968), 42–43.

translation

in the service of politics and religion

101

self translated two works reflecting it.29 By 1524, however, the year of Margaret Roper’s translation, Erasmus’ influence had spread throughout the upper ranks of the clergy and government and manifested itself in the patronage of aristocrats both great and small. Finally, and of importance for Margaret’s translation, English printers in the second decade of the century increased the number of both pietistic and humanist works, thus reflecting that Erasmian blend of which McConica spoke. In that same decade, 1520–1530, were printed in England no fewer than five Latin editions of Erasmus’ works and two translations, while another translation into English of a section of the Paraclesis was printed in Antwerp. 30 Both Roper’s and Hervet’s translations, McConica claims, broke new ground, being ‘first real moves in a broader campaign directed at the English-reading public.’ 31 However, they were soon to cause trouble for the printer, Thomas Berthelet, who in 1526 was called before the Vicar-General for publishing works without the approval of the bishops designated to oversee the regulation of the book trade. One of these, Berthelet confessed, was ‘translated by the wife of Master Roper in the vulgar tongue.’ 32 McConica argues that the injunction to sell no more of these books was leveled against Berthelet on account of an error of procedure, not on religious grounds, for Erasmus encountered no real opposition in England other than that of Edward Lee, of whom we have already spoken, and a few conservative academics and theologians of little note. 33 We might add that Berthelet brought out two more editions within the following five or six years, and this after he was appointed King’s Printer, which supports McConica’s view. The English translation thus enjoyed 29 Book IV of Thomas a Kempis’s De imitatione Christi (London 1504) and Jacobus de Gruitroede’s Speculum aureum animae peccatricis (London 1506). However, both were done not from the Latin originals but from French translations. I discuss Beaufort’s translations in detail in my forthcoming article, ‘Lady Margaret Beaufort’s Translations as Mirrors of Practical Piety’, in M. White (ed.), Women, Religion, and Textual Production 1500–1620 (Aldershot 2010). 30 Christiani hominis institutum (1520), De conscribendis epistolis (1521), Dicta sapientum (1527), De copia verborum (1528) and Luciani dialogi (1528); Margaret Roper’s Deuout treatise vpon the Pater Noster (1526) and Gentian Hervet’s De immensa Dei misericordia. A Sermon of the excedynge great mercy of god (1526), and An exhortation to the diligent study of scripture (1529). 31 McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics , 67. 32 A.W. Reed, ‘The Regulation of the Book Trade Before the Proclamation of 1538’, in Transactions of the Bibliographical Society 15 (1918), 157–171. 33 McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics , 72–73.

102

brenda m. hosington

a better fate than its French counterpart, which was condemned by Paris theologians for being ‘impious’. 34 We have suggested that Margaret was perhaps motivated by a desire to reciprocate Erasmus’ generosity, a means to earn his praise and a belief that she was participating in advancing the Erasmian cause in England. If the three editions of her work in six or so years are any indication, it proved popular and indeed contributed in no small way to making the works of Erasmus better known to an English audience who knew no Latin, a move that would pick up considerable speed in the 1530s. She may however have been motivated by two other factors. The first was the affection and admiration for Erasmus that her father continued to feel, although as the 1520s progressed he became more conservative and seemed to abandon some of Erasmus’ opinions which he had earlier defended, although he never repudiated his friend.35 She must also have been aware of the important role friendship played in humanist circles. Had not Erasmus told Budé that her father was a man ‘made for friendship’? 36 In showing herself to be a friend of Erasmus by translating his work and allowing it to be published, she was placing herself, however discreetly, within a humanist circle. The second factor was her own affection for her father. Erasmus’ Precatio dominica focuses on the relationship between God the father and his child, the penitent Christian, a theme that must have resonated strongly with Margaret, More’s dutiful and loving daughter, and that is in fact heightened in her translation. 37 The theme of paternal love, as well as the pietistic nature of Erasmus’ work, must have appealed strongly to this religious young woman. The other dimension involved in Margaret’s translation is political rather than religious and related to the humanist agenda. It finds expression in the introductory letter penned by its editor, Richard Hyrde, who translated Vives’ 1523 De institutione foeminae Christianae some time before his death in Italy in 1528. Again, Berthelet was the printer. Hyrde’s dedicatory letter serves in part to praise Margaret but also, like her translation, to domesticate humanism for an English

L.-E. Halkin, Érasme parmi nous (Paris 1987), 260. See comments to this effect by Kinney (CW 15), xci, and Y. Charlier, Érasme et l’amitié d’après sa correspondance (Paris 1977), 121–123, 296–300, 305–337. 36 Allen, Ep. 4, 1233, l. 578. 37 E. McCutcheon, ‘Margaret More Roper’, in K.M. Wilson (ed.), Women Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation (Athens, GA 1987), 449–480. 34 35

translation

in the service of politics and religion

103

audience by discussing one of its strongly debated issues in the vernacular: it in fact constitutes the first defence of women’s education written in English. Hyrde reiterates what More himself had said about educating women in a letter addressed to William Gonnell, his children’s tutor, in 1518: that women should receive the same education as men and are capable of equal intellectual achievements. 38 Now, in true humanist style, Hyrde links virtue and learning, strongly refuting charges that education corrupts female minds. It could be argued that Hyrde is using Margaret’s translation, hijacking it so to speak, in order to be able to express his own opinions, consolidate his position in the debate over women’s education and further his own social advancement. Such is certainly true of some male editors who printed women’s translations. John Bale, editor of Queen Elizabeth’s girlhood translation of Marguerite de Navarre’s Ame pecheresse, is a case in point. On the other hand, it could similarly be argued that Hyrde was simply being the spokesman for the More family: for More himself who had educated his daughters, like his son, in humanist values but also for the anonymous Margaret, who par excellence embodied them. The cause being advanced by publishing Margaret’s translation was the important humanist one of defending the education of women and enabling them, too, to participate in the new learning. Mary Clarke Basset More’s and his daughter’s humanist values would be carried on to the next generation, particularly in the person of Margaret’s daughter, Mary. Widow of one Stephen Clarke, son of a prominent Norfolk Catholic, she composed an English translation of the first five books of Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History and a Latin translation of Book I some time between 1550 and 1553. 39 These were prefaced by a dedicatory epistle to the Princess Mary and bound in purple velvet in a presentation copy which is now at the British Library, minus its original cover Rogers, Ep. 63, l. 120–123. For information concerning Mary’s first marriage I am indebted to John Guy’s new double biography of Thomas More and Margaret Roper, A Daughter’s Love (London– New York 2009), 271, which unfortunately appeared after this article went to print. Guy attributes to Margaret and Mary Basset the survival and publication of More’s writings and letters, reappraises Margaret’s role in her father’s life and work, and describes both women as worthy successors to More’s humanist ideals. 38 39

104

brenda m. hosington

(MS Harley 1860). The undertaking was an extremely ambitious one for a young woman. As her grandfather had pointed out in his letter to Dorp and reiterated in his letter to the University of Oxford, only a small fraction of the Greek Fathers were translated and some of these had been subuersi (travestied).40 In mid-century, England still lagged behind the Continent in editing and translating Greek patristic texts. Only ten had been translated since 1505 and these in no way compare with the extremely long, complex text written in difficult Greek that is the Ecclesiastical History; they are all single sermons except for one short treatise. 41 Only one other sixteenth-century Englishwoman is known to have attempted to translate the Greek Fathers. Mildred Cooke rendered St Basil’s sermon on Deuteronomy 15 into English (B.L., ms. Royal 17 B. XVIII). Some of the reasons for Mary Clarke’s motives and goals in tackling such a difficult text can be found in her long and detailed dedicatory letter prefacing her translation. It is unique among English women translators’ prefaces in describing in detail the challenges, difficulties and solutions involved in translating. There she claims that she translated ‘for myne owne exercyse’ and executed the work for her own eyes and satisfaction. These are of course topoi in translators’ prefaces. In any case, if such were the case, why did she abandon her Latin translation upon hearing that a ‘greate learned man’ (presumably John Christopherson, her former tutor and an exile in Leuven) had finished his Latin translation of the text? Perhaps, like her mother, Bassett had personal and family-related reasons for her choice of author. As we have said, her grandfather had called for improved editions and more and better translations of the Greek Fathers, whose writings he felt were lamentably inaccessible. We also know that the More children studied Greek patristic as well as classical authors and that Margaret had emended a sentence of St Cyprian’s. Her emendation was apparently acknowledged by Jacobus Pamelius in his commentary on the text. 42 Mary, like her grandfather and mother, was also aware of the faults in the original

CW 15, 100, l. 5–8; 142, l. 22–29. The sermons are by Saints Origen, Cyprian and Chrysostom and translated by humanist scholars like Thomas Elyot, Richard Whitford and John Cheke. The treatise, translated by C. Chaualary, is A compendious treatise of saynte Iohn Chrisostom prouinge that no man is hurte but of him selfe (London 1542). 42 Stapleton, The Life and Illustrious Martyrdom of Sir Thomas More, 104. 40 41

translation

in the service of politics and religion

105

texts and previous translations and does not hesitate to point out the errors in the Greek edition from which she is translating, or to amend Rufinus’ Latin translation, until then the standard Latin version of the Ecclesiastical History. She was therefore carrying on a family tradition of being both editor and translator, reflecting the humanists’ preoccupation with philological translating expressed in her grandfather’s various writings. No doubt, however, there lay another reason behind her choice of Eusebius. It is found in a passage in her dedicatory epistle that praises Eusebius’ picture of the primitive church. In God’s ‘holy churche’, she says, lived ‘many gloryouse martyrs, so many holy confessors, so excellent, so syncerely learned doctors, so notable worckers of miracles, so noble prelates, and bysshopes, so dylygently tendryng the weak of theyr flocke’ (ff. 148–150). Note the vocabulary: it is that of the Catholic religion, under threat by Edward VI’s reformers at the time she is translating. Like her grandfather, Mary believes in the essential goodness of the early church, which she tellingly calls the ‘latyn church’, descended, she says, from one apostolic tradition. In short, her choice of Eusebius is inspired in part by religious zeal, a strong desire to see the Catholic church restored in England. But it is also political, in the older sense of the word. The translation is dedicated to the queen-in-waiting, Mary Tudor, a fervent Catholic who if crowned would restore England to Catholicism. Religious restoration would mean family restitution. Exiled relatives would return and perhaps Mary and others would be called into royal service. Indeed, whether on account of the Eusebius translation or not, Mary Clarke rode in the new queen’s coronation eve procession in 1553 as a member of her household. Two or three years later, she remarried, this time to a member of the court, James Basset, secretary and faithful friend of the Catholic Bishop Gardiner, who had returned from exile in Flanders in 1554. Basset was to be appointed personal secretary to the queen herself while Mary would become her lady-in-waiting. No doubt she had felt loyalty towards the Catholic Princess Mary, which in and of itself could account for her gift of the Eusebius translation, but she also most certainly had social ambitions that it could in no way hurt. After Mary Tudor came to the throne, events for members of the More family and circle certainly took a turn for the better. Mary and James Basset’s social and financial situation improved and in 1557, when her cousin William Rastell published More’s English Workes,

106

brenda m. hosington

she contributed to the cost as well as to the content of the edition by allowing him to include her English translation of her grandfather’s last work, De tristitia, tedio, pauore, et oratione Christi ante captionem eius.43 Placing the translation in context and examining Rastell’s dedication of the edition to Mary Tudor, who had been Mary’s dedicatee some years earlier, might enable us to determine whether this work, too, was influenced by political or religious concerns. This final work of More’s, written in 1534 while he awaited execution in the Tower of London, is a devotional and meditational rather than polemical work. On the sadnesse, weriness, fear and prayer of Christ before his taking, as Mary entitles it, is a detailed commentary on the Gospel accounts of the capture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, enriched with biblical and patristic quotations and references to various commentators. The editor’s prefatory letter immediately preceding the translation reveals much about it. Rastell, who was More’s nephew, tells us that Mary has ‘lately englished’ the text but that she did so ‘but for her pastime and exercise’, a curious echo of Mary’s own words in her Eusebius dedication. For that reason, she opposed its publication but ‘some ther were that fayn wold haue had it sette furth in prynt alone, because the matter is so good and so well handeled that it were to be wished it mought be readde of all folks [. . .].44 This comment is of interest on several accounts. It begins with the usual reluctant translator topos, already used in stating that the translation was not intended for publication, yet goes on to say that it had been read by ‘some’. This suggests it was not as private a document as Mary and Rastell would have us believe when he tells us just before that he had had difficulty in wresting it from her. Moreover, Rastell continues, its worth is such that it could stand ‘alone’. He then adds that Mary’s English is so like her grandfather’s that one could scarcely know the work was a translation. So we have a work that could be published in its own right as an original text and could have been written by More. High praise indeed for a translation. Lastly, Rastell’s comment gives us the real reason for rather inaccurately including Mary’s English translation of a work written in Latin in More’s English collected works. It will, he says, be ‘readde of all folks’.

43 The Workes of Sir Thomas More, Knyght [. . .] in the Englysh tonge , ed. W. Rastell (London 1557). 44 The Workes of Sir Thomas More, 1350.

translation

in the service of politics and religion

107

In publishing the English Works in 1557, Rastell says in his dedicatory letter to Queen Mary that he wanted to make More’s writings available on account of the ‘eloquence and propertie of the English tonge, but also the trewe doctrine of Christes Catholike faith, the confutacion of detestable heresies, or the godly morall virtues [they illustrate].’ 45 The first comment points to a political concern, the recognition that the English language was capable of eloquence and could serve adequately as a vehicle for thought, which many denied. More himself had already defended the use of English, even for biblical translation, some three decades earlier but the linguistic debate was still on-going in the 1550’s. The second comment is a declaration of faith, in recognition of the fact that More’s battle against heresy, in which he finally lost his life, had not been in vain. Through the publication of these English works, then, Rastell sought to rehabilitate More’s reputation—More the scholar, but above all, More the Catholic martyr. By making his writings available to all who could read, rather than only to the elite who knew Latin, he could reach a larger audience. However, in the case of the De tristitia, perhaps a further factor was at play. Rastell hints at it in his short preface to the work. He tells us how More in his last weeks was deprived of pen, ink and paper in his prison cell and ‘soone after also was putte to death hymselfe.’ The adverb ‘also’ and the reflexive pronoun ‘hymselfe’ point clearly to the parallel between More, facing execution, and Jesus, facing crucifixion, that is but implicit in the text itself. Rastell’s desire to stress More’s martyrdom and saintliness for a wider audience that would be reached through an English rendering of the text is, I think, the main reason for including Mary’s version and demonstrates, once again, that translations are often inextricably linked to political and religious concerns. Conclusion Friends and biographers of Thomas More, his daughter and granddaughter often pointed to their physical and intellectual similarities, even to their like manner of expressing themselves in English, as we have just seen. Their aim no doubt was to point to the enduring legacy of More’s humanism and religious faith but also perhaps todemonstrate

45

Rastell, Dedication to The Workes of Sir Thomas More, f. Cii.

108

brenda m. hosington

that his particular belief in the importance of educating women lived on in his female descendants. This article, however, has focused on the ways in which More, Margaret and Mary perceived and practised translation and how for each one it involved both politics and religion to varying and differing degrees. Mary did not have to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis as her grandfather did, no doubt hoping that his activities in pursuing heresy, which included commenting frequently and at length on translation, would help him stay the course, although now a noncompliant courtier. Nor was she caught up in the humanist debate over women’s education or the movement to spread Erasmian piety and principles, both of which formed the backdrop to her mother’s translation. However, by choosing to translate a patristic historian of the early church, she was continuing the humanist programme so dear to her grandfather’s heart, while by financing and contributing her translation to the English Workes, she was carrying on the More family tradition of using print to spread humanist and spiritual values and translation to serve political and religious ends. In the case of all three writers and their works, letters played an important role. More’s defence of Erasmian editing and translating practices and his opinions on biblical translating were fully articulated in his letters to Dorp, Lee and Batmanson before he embarked upon his polemical writings. Margaret’s translation was prefaced by one of the most important letters in the history of women’s education, while her exchange of correspondence with Erasmus offers proof of her intellectual qualities and his admiration of them. His letters to her, together with those he addressed to John More, Von Hutten and Budé, demonstrate how he too came to believe in the worth of educating women. Mary’s Eusebius translation was prefaced by one of the most important dedicatory letters penned by an early modern Englishwoman, in which she explains the difficulties of translating and of being a woman translator. Finally, Rastell’s dedicatory letter to Queen Mary and inclusion of Mary Basset’s translation, which he introduced in a brief though revealing preface, demonstrates how politics and religion were closely bound together. In choosing to dedicate his work to Mary Tudor, a Catholic monarch, and using the translation to remind both her and his readers of More’s vertuous life and martyr’s death, as well as the restoration of his religious values in England, Rastell, like others before—and after—yoked translation to politics and religion.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION ON PHILIP MELANCHTHON’S LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION Milton Kooistra (Toronto) On 25 September 1542, Philip Melanchthon lamented to his friend, Joachim Camerarius in Leipzig: ‘You won’t believe how much of my time is spent in writing letters [of recommendation] for the affairs of students; for that reason, you’ll have to forgive my negligence in writing to you.’ 1 On account of his vast network of friends and contacts and of his esteemed reputation, Melanchthon frequently wrote recommendations for a wide range of purposes: for pastors, applicants for university positions and stipends, for civil servants, refugees, and even for such sundry positions as organists, cantors, and court astronomers. The sheer number of letters of recommendation by him is testimony to his distinguished reputation across Europe. In his capacity as praeceptor Germaniae and reformer, he was particularly aware of the duty of older scholars to recommend appropriate young men to the right people and of the importance of a Christian and, more specifically, Protestant education, as he wrote to Johannes Crato von Krafftheim on 14 April 1557 in a letter of recommendation for an unnamed youth: ‘It is altogether necessary that we, being much older, bring help to those of good intellect, as much as we are able, and strive for the sake of the commonweal that both the advancement of teaching and governance be recommended to the appropriate people.’ 2 Generally speaking, the letters of recommendation written by Protestants fall into three categories: first, private recommendations found in the personal correspondence amongst scholars and friends; second, 1 MBW 3, Ep. 3048 (summary); CR 4, 870, Ep. 2554: ‘Non credas, quantum mihi temporis in scholasticorum negotiis, quibus litterae dandae sunt, pereant: quare negligentiae meae in scribendo veniam dabis.’ [ MBW = Melanchthons Briefwechsel: Kritische und kommentierte Gesamtausgabe, H. Scheible (ed.) (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1977- ); CR = Corpus Reformatorum, vols. 1–28, K.G. Bretschneider and H.E. Bindseil (eds) (Halle/S.-Braunschweig 1834–1860)]. 2 MBW 8, Ep. 8190 (summary); P. Flemming, Beiträge zum Briefwechsel Melanchthons (Naumburg 1904), 59, Ep. 63: ‘Necesse est omnino nos grandiores natu, quantum possumus, bonis ingeniis opem ferre et reipublicae causa anniti, ut idoneis commendentur et doctrinarum propagatio et gubernatio.’

110

milton kooistra

Fig. 5. Albrecht Dürer, Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon, engraving 1526. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PK-P-127.105

the influence of the protestant reformation

111

recommendations for candidates applying for university positions; finally, letters of recommendation to rulers and city councils for positions in public office and churches. The first two sorts are also found in the correspondence of humanists, who wrote letters of recommendation to their friends and patrons for the purposes of recommending young men as private tutors, professors and editors. It is the latter category, however, where we see a new development occur in the culture of recommending. For in their break from the Catholic Church, Protestants established their own ecclesiastical hierarchies, founded their own universities, and altered the socio-political landscape of Germany, in the process creating a new climate in which recommendation letters functioned. Before the Reformation, priests were appointed by a more senior church official, such as the bishop or abbot. Come the Reformation, however, this duty fell to the town and city councils, whose prerogative it became to administer the local churches. It was they who hired the preachers and oversaw the Reformation in their territories upon the recommendation and advice of reformers, who often took out citizenship as one of their first public acts of rebellion from the Catholic hierarchy. The churches and universities became extensions of the authority of the local magistracy and regional rulers, and reflected their particular creed and confession. For that reason, letters of recommendation for pastors as well as for civil servants were addressed to city councilmen. City councils desired to achieve some degree of unity and concord within their municipal jurisdictions just as reformers, city magistrates, and princes sought to create a unified front against the Catholics. In this essay, I would like to demonstrate what Melanchthon’s letters of recommendation can teach us about new patterns that developed in recommendations on account of the Reformation. His correspondence provides a rich repository through which to explore these developments. As a pre-eminent humanistically-trained reformer, his letters of recommendation still exhibit humanist elements, as outlined in the letter-writing manuals of Erasmus and Vives—the use of classical rhetoric and motifs and the continued attention to the triangular relationship between the author, the recipient, and the recommended. 3

3 For an examination of the rhetorical elements of Justus Lipsius’s letters of recommendation, see M. Morford, ‘Lipsius’ Letters of Recommendation’, in T. Van Houdt, J. Papy, G. Tournoy, and C. Matheeussen (eds), Self-presentation and Social Identification:

112

milton kooistra

Nonetheless, his letters of recommendation also reflect concerns unique to the Reformation and the changed job market. They reveal what qualities Melanchthon believed should be present in the person he recommended and what Bild of such a person he sought to project. In short, his letters of recommendation evince the troubles faced by humanistically-trained reformers as they sought a balance between the professional and confessional qualities in the people they recommended. His letters of recommendation capture the process of change from humanism to the Reformation and exhibit some of the new developments. First of all, with increased emphasis on confessional orthodoxy amongst Protestants, we find that references to the creed and confession of the recommended are commonplace. Melanchthon, like his fellow reformers, was careful to screen those whom he recommended so as to avoid future embarrassment. No one wanted to find himself in the awkward position of having once recommended positively a future heretic or confessional opponent, for that would reflect poorly on him. Secondly, whereas friendship underlay the letters of recommendation typical of humanists, come the Reformation, clerical marriage added a new note: the recommending of the sons of fellow reformers, not so much on their own merit, but on that of their fathers. Thirdly, we find in his letters references not only to the ability of the recommended to read and write the classical languages, but also to their ability to speak ‘the language of the people’, an important factor, as reformers actively promoted the use of the vernacular. These new elements indicate the important influence the Reformation had on letters of recommendation. The Addition of Confessional Credentials The confessionalization both of hiring policies and of recommending becomes evident as soon as people realized that Luther and Lutheranism were there to stay. Shortly after the death of Petrus Mosellanus († 1524), professor of Greek at the university of Leipzig, the staunchly Catholic Duke George of Saxony put out a job search for a successor to Mosellanus, stipulating, however, that the applicant not be a the Rhetoric and Pragmatics of Letter Writing in Early Modern Times Humanistica Lovaniensia 18 (Leuven 2002), 183–198.

, Supplementa

the influence of the protestant reformation

113

Lutheran. In his response to the duke, Erasmus confesses that it was already difficult to find someone who was an expert in both languages, to take Mosellanus’s place, but that it was even more difficult to meet the duke’s additional requirement, that it be someone who had absolutely no connection with the Lutheran party. Erasmus admitted that he could not think of anyone suitable, who could satisfy both criteria. 4 Evidently Duke George did not want his beloved university in Leipzig to go the way of its sister institution in Wittenberg. He wanted to ensure that faculty members were Catholic so as to stamp out heresy within his realm. When Erasmus finally ended up recommending Johannes Ceratinus for the position in three separate letters addressed to Duke George, Heinrich Stromer, and Hieronymus Emser, he was careful to specify that he had personally verified Ceratinus’s commitment to the Catholic faith, 5 for, as he wrote to Stromer on 8 April 1525, ‘I have often been embarrassed in the past by being too free with my praise’ (praesertim toties iam pudefactus commendandi facilitate).6 The conversions to the reform movement of leading humanist scholars prompted Erasmus himself to adopt a more cautionary policy when recommending. No author wanted a recommendation to come back to haunt him later on, for that might reflect poorly on his own reputation and disturb the harmony of the triangular relationship characteristic of humanist recommendation letters. Melanchthon shared the same concern to recommend appropriate people of approved orthodoxy to positions of church, academia and the civil service. He wanted to safeguard the evangelical message by placing men of his own lot in vacant positions of authority, thereby ensuring the continued dissemination of the gospel. When the university of Tübingen was looking for a new professor of theology in 1537, Melanchthon wrote a letter to Johannes Brenz in Tübingen, informing him that he could not think of anyone to nominate for the vacant position, but expressed his wish that the candidate be moderate and learned, adding:

4 P.S. Allen, Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami (Oxford 1906–1958), Ep. 5, 1526, l. 222–225: ‘[. . .] utriusque linguae sic peritum ut possit Mosellano succedere difficile est reperire, sed longe difficilius qui, quod addis, prorsus sit alienus a factione Luterana.’ The translation given is a paraphrase of Collected Works of Erasmus (Toronto 1974–) Ep. 10, 1526, l. 233–236. 5 Allen, Opus epistolarum, Ep. 6, 1564–1566. 6 Allen, Opus epistolarum, Ep. 6, 1564, l. 16–17.

114

milton kooistra Since I cannot indicate anyone to you at this time, I will let you use your own judgment; I must not pronounce about an unknown man, especially since I have found many examples of how much men of renown have often fooled me. I see that a new type of sophist is being born, just as other giants were born from the blood of the giants. Unless good and prudent men restrain the petulancy of those sophists in public matters, I fear that the activities of the church will not get better. 7

Here Melanchthon confesses that he too, like Erasmus, had experienced first-hand the deception and embarrassment of having recommended positively people who turned out differently later on than previously thought. With the Reformation, it became increasingly imperative to note the confessional credentials of the recommended so as to avoid recommending a future heretic or confessional turncoat. The solution was a personal examination of the recommended’s character and doctrines. This examination served as a screening process to validate the recommended’s confessional orthodoxy and vouch for his character. It became a standard and expected part of the process of recommending an individual. On 10 August 1547, Duke Moritz of Saxony wrote to Melanchthon, stating that he should first examine the bearer of the letter, Wolf Heiderich of Freiberg, for a theology stipend and, if he is found suitable, Melanchthon should then write a letter of recommendation for him to Leipzig. 8 Conversely, on 31 January 1555, Melanchthon reported to Johannes Petreius Jr in Zwickau that the bearer of the letter, Wolfgang Streber, was going to be examined and ordained, and that he would be a good pastor to his congregation in Crossen.9 The Augsburg Confession of 1530, which established the articles of faith for Lutherans, became the standard by which to examine a candidate. It was particularly important to prove the confessional orthodoxy of the recommended seeking employment in the church or academia. The testimonium or formal letter of recommendation written by Melanchthon, together with Johannes Bugenhagen, on 25 November 1544 to the city council of Braunschweig on behalf of Martin Chemnitz is an excellent case in point. 10 Chemnitz (1522–1586) had previously MBW T.7, Ep. 1952. MBW 5, Ep. 4846 (summary). 9 MBW 7, Ep. 7395 (summary). 10 He was ordained on 25 November 1544, according to his certificate of ordination, co-signed by Bugenhagen, Johannes Forster, Georg Maior, Melanchthon, Sebastian Fröschel, and Lucas Hetzer, cf. MBW 7, Ep. 7345 (summary). 7 8

the influence of the protestant reformation

115

been librarian to Duke Albert of Prussia in Königsberg. While there, he became involved in a theological controversy with Andreas Osiander over the doctrine of justification by faith.11 Osiander, who maintained the infusion of Christ’s righteousness into the believer, impugned the Lutheran doctrine of imputation; Chemnitz defended it with striking ability. Since Duke Albert sided with Osiander, Chemnitz resigned the librarianship. In 1543, he returned to Wittenberg, where he lectured on Melanchthon’s Loci communes, before accepting a call to become coadjutor to the superintendent in Braunschweig, Joachim Mörlin, who had known him in Königsberg. The letter begins by praising the city of Braunschweig as one of those which Christ is preserving for the propagation of the gospel truth, as is evident by the call of the city council extended to Chemnitz, ‘an honourable and erudite man.’ Then Bugenhagen and Melanchthon proceed to depict Chemnitz and to prove his suitability for the position: We attest that his character is honest and that he has a heart that loves truth and public concord and that avoids deceits and sophistry, and that he rightly knows the doctrine of the church of God. Since Paul commands that faithful and suitable men be chosen to teach, and for them to teach other suitable men, we know that this Martin is that sort of man, because he has set forth transparently to others both in church and in university lectures the sum of doctrine. He has studied both the history of the church of every age as well as the disputes of old, and has taken into consideration what the true church thought about dogmas and what were the confessions and explanations of the godly men, who refuted the fanatical men. Therefore, as supported by true testimonies, he embraces the incorrupt consensus of the Catholic Church of God, which the confession of the Saxon churches, which was presented to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, recites and which the church of God in the wonderful city of Braunschweig professes. Martin even opposes every seditious opinion and heated debates with that confession.12 11 Cf. A. Briskina, Philipp Melanchthon und Andreas Osiander im Ringen um die Rechtfertigungslehre. Ein reformatorischer Streit aus der ostkirchlichen Perspektive (Frankfurt am Main 2006). 12 MBW 7, Ep. 7346 (summary). The autograph original is in Wolfenbüttel HAB, Cod. Guelf., Mittlere Briefsammlung, ff. 177r–178v [Bugenhagen]: ‘[. . .] testamur et mores eius honestos esse, et mentem veritatis et publicae concordiae amantem, et fugitantem praestigiarum et sophistices et recte eum intelligere doctrinam ecclesiae Dei. Cumque iubeat Paulus eligi ad docendum homines fideles et idoneos, ἱκανοὺς καὶ ἑτέρους διδάξαι, talem esse hunc Martinum cognovimus, quia et in templo et scholasticis praelectionibus perspicue summam doctrinae aliis exposuit. Inquisivit et historiam omnium ecclesiae temporum et vetera certamina et consideravit, quid

116

milton kooistra

The letter stresses certain qualities which would make Chemnitz an ideal candidate for the position of preacher in Braunschweig. Chemnitz, they write, seeks public concord and has a correct understanding of Christian doctrine. Moreover, he has both teaching and preaching experience. He is trained in historical theology and the history of theological disputes within the church. Finally, he embraces the Augsburg Confession of 1530, with which he opposes seditious opinions. Chemnitz’s involvement in the dispute with Osiander prompted the writers to highlight his particular confessional stance in light of such theological rifts within the Lutheran reformers. Chemnitz found himself in the same theological camp as Melanchthon and Bugenhagen, as well as Joachim Mörlin, to whom he became co-adjutor. He moved to Braunschweig on 15 December 1554, and there spent the remainder of his life, refusing subsequent offers of important offices from various Protestant princes of Germany. Earlier that year, on 4 February 1544, Melanchthon wrote to Johannes Praetorius in Breslau (now Wrocław), recommending the bearer, Martin Krowicki, who preferred to return to his homeland rather than to move to Bohemia, despite an earlier recommendation for him to Johannes Mathesius in Joachimsthal, Bohemia (modernday Jáchymov, Czech Republic). 13 In the letter, Melanchthon states his concern about dissembling men and attests to Krowicki’s doctrinal orthodoxy: I understand that you know this man, Martin Krowicki. Since you know that he is a man of integrity and thinks correctly, in your opinion, you believe he should be welcomed and reckon that I have not recommended him rashly to others. I know that there are dissembling men everywhere and that we should first consider those, who seek our testimonia. Hence, I have discussed many things familiarly with this Martin and have heard him affirm that he embraces the confession of our church.14

semper vera ecclesia de dogmatibus indicaverit, et quae fuerint confessiones et enarrationes piorum qui refutarint fanaticos homines. Confirmatus igitur veris testimoniis amplectitur consensum Catholicae Ecclesiae Dei incorruptum, quem et confessio ecclesiarum Saxonicarum, quae exhibita est Imperatori Carolo Quinto in Augustano Conventu anni 1530, recitat et quam profitetur ecclesia Dei in inclyta urbe Brunsviga. Abhorret etiam Martinus ab omnibus seditiosis opinionibus et furoribus pugnantibus cum illa confessione.’ 13 MBW 7, Ep. 7031 (summary). 14 MBW 7, Ep. 7080 (summary); CR 8, 221–222, Ep. 5539: ‘Intelligo hunc virum, Martinum Crovitium, tibi notum esse, quem, cum scias virum integrum esse, et recte sentientem, tuo eum iudicio complectendum esse statues, et iudicabis me eum non temere aliis commendasse. Scio dissimiles esse homines ubique, et prius considerandos

the influence of the protestant reformation

117

Even though Praetorius could vouch for Krowicki’s character, Melanchthon admits that he preferred to be careful not to write a testimonium willy-nilly. After personal interaction with Krowicki, however, he states that he could safely recommend him, since Krowicki adheres to the Augsburg Confession and had demonstrated a knowledge of its contents. Likewise, on 19 April 1551, he recommended to Kilian Goldstein in Halle, the bearer of the letter, Justus Jonas Jr., the son of the reformer. The son, he states, acknowledges the Augsburg Confession as his doctrinal norm, just as Goldstein had done at the Colloquy of Worms in 1540. 15 Even in the testimonium for a teaching position written on behalf of Johannes Hoffler, dated 16 October 1556, Melanchthon declared that Hoffler has upheld the Augsburg Confession, the ‘confession of Duke Johann Friedrich of Electoral Saxony’. 16 The screening process helped to safeguard against theological disputes and maintain a degree of religious concord. Melanchthon’s letters of recommendation demonstrate his yearning for peace and concord between the churches in the face of doctrinal controversies. Around mid-December 1544, Melanchthon wrote to Matthäus Poler in Marienberg, recommending the bearer, Martin Gilbert, who had been accused of heresy. Melanchthon states that he has held a high opinion of Gilbert for a long time and was therefore disappointed to hear that Gilbert had become the target of suspicion. He mentions that Gilbert had been examined by the university of Leipzig and cleared of any heresy. Moreover, Luther, Cruciger, and Melanchthon had personally discussed Gilbert’s Christology and were satisfied with his response. For that reason, Melanchthon now recommends him. He then adds: It is most useful for the Church of God that all of us be very united when we teach in the churches and the schools, as Christ often commands and before his death agony asks the eternal Father that he may bestow concord to his disciples, when he says: ‘ Father, sanctify them in truth, that they may be one, just as we are one, so that there may be concord with you and amongst them ’ [Jo. 17: 17; 21]. I pray with Christ that the eternal Father may bestow this concord to you there. 17

esse eos, qui testimonia nostra petunt. Quare cum hoc Martino multa collocutus sum familiariter, et audivi eum affirmantem se amplecti confessionem ecclesiae nostrae.’ 15 MBW 6, Ep. 6055 (summary). 16 MBW 7, Ep. 7994 (summary); CR 8, 875, Ep. 6097. 17 MBW 4, Ep. 3759 (summary); CR 5, 430, Ep. 2977: ‘Utilissimum est ecclesiae Dei, nos omnes, qui cum in ecclesiis tum scholis docemus, coniunctissimos esse, ut saepe mandat Christus, et ante agonem suum petit ab aeterno patre, ut concordiam docentibus largiatur, cum ait: “Pater, sanctifica eos in veritate, ut sint unum, sicut et

118

milton kooistra

On the other hand, when Matthias Lauterwald, then pastor in Eperies (modern-day Prełov, Slovakia) and a former student of Melanchthon, became embroiled in a dispute with Michael Radaschinus in 1554 over the doctrine of justification, the city council of Eperies sought a resolution to the dispute and asked a number of theologians for the opinion as to whether Lauterwald’s position disagreed with official Wittenberg policy. Melanchthon, the Wittenberg theologians and others investigated the matter and submitted to the council their iudicium, or verdict, recommending that Lauterwald be removed from office, if he refused to agree with the general consensus of the Lutheran church. On 3 October 1554, Melanchthon wrote a letter to the city council of Eperies, expressing regret that dissent had arisen in their city and praying that ‘the Son of God may incline the hearts of everyone towards truth and concord.’ He confesses that the Wittenberg theologians ‘would not have approved your decision to call him, if we had thought that he dissents from us. We knew that he is argumentative and pugnacious by nature. Wherefore we often advised that he not obscure by inane subtlety matters correctly handed down.’ 18 Melanchthon’s letter of recommendation for Lauterwald to the city council of Eperies is no longer extant, but on 5 May 1551, Sigismund Gelous of Eperies wrote to Melanchthon that he supported Lauterwald’s call to the city, a position he assumed some time that year. 19 However, on 28 August 1552, Melanchthon recommended that Bugenhagen make Lauterwald the castle preacher in Wittenberg. 20 Whatever the sequence of events, on 3 October 1554, Melanchthon praised the city council of Eperies for its decision to hear out the opinions of other men concerning the dispute, adding: ‘But if Matthias does not agree to the judgments of pious men, it will be up to your piety and gravity to remove him from the ministry of the gospel. We write this not without regret, but it is necessary that we all consult both the truth and godly concord of the churches.’ 21

nos unum sumus, ut sint tecum et inter se concordes.” Hanc concordiam ut vobis istic largiatur aeternus pater et ego cum Christo oro.’ 18 MBW 7, Ep. 7300 (summary); CR 8, 360–361, Ep. 5673C: ‘nec consilium vestrum de eo vocando probassemus, si existimassemus eum a nobis dissentire. Hoc sciebamus, naturam amantem esse argutiarum et pugnacem. Quare saepe monuimus, ne res recte traditas, inani subtilitate obscuraret.’ 19 MBW 6, Ep. 6078 (summary). 20 MBW 6, Ep. 6538 (summary). 21 MBW 6, Ep. 6538 (summary); CR 8, 361–362, Ep. 5673: ‘Ac si Matthias non adsentietur piorum iudiciis, erit pietatis et gravitatis vestrae removere eum a ministe-

the influence of the protestant reformation

119

A iudicium from the Wittenberg theologians came to the same conclusion: that Lauterwald’s doctrine of justification went against the official Wittenberg policy and he should therefore be removed from office.22 The cases of Gilbert and Lauterwald demonstrate that when the orthodoxy of someone came into question, then theologians were brought in to pass their verdict after having examined the person in question. While their verdicts are not letters of recommendation per se, nonetheless, they have the markings of a letter of recommendation, that is, an examination followed by a ‘recommendation’ ( in casu a negative advice). Relatives

of Friends

Friendship underlay the letters of recommendations of humanists. Friends recommended their own friends and the friends of friends to the recipient of the letter, who, too, was usually a friend of the author. As reformers abandoned their clerical vows of celibacy in favour of clerical marriage, we see a new trend appear: letters of recommendation for the sons and relatives of reformers. These letters typically emphasize the relationship of the son with his father, on the basis of whose faith and contribution to the church the recommendation is given its strength. The recommendation of the children of reformers not only suggests the prevalence of nepotism in hiring, but it also marks the beginning of the rise of clerical and professorial dynasties, that become the norm in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The mention of family connections is simply an extension of the album amicorum, which played an important part in humanist letters of recommendation, where the author would plot the recommended onto a network of friends. With the reformation, this is not discontinued, but the academic genealogy of the recommended is based not only on friendship, but also family. In September 1557, Melanchthon wrote a general letter of recommendation for the recent MA, Theophilus Grynaeus (1534–1583), addressed ‘to all who read this letter.’ The letter begins with a classical and biblical quotation from Theocritus and the Psalms about how the rio evangelii. Haec non sine dolore scribimus, sed necesse est nos omnes et veritati et piae concordiae ecclesiarum consulere.’ 22 MBW 7, Ep. 7301 (summary); CR 8, 356–357, Ep. 5672D.

120

milton kooistra

children of godly men are blessed, before moving into a praise of the illustrious Grynaeus family, beginning with the famous Simon Grynaeus (1493–1541) and his nephew, Thomas Grynaeus († 1564), for whose son, Theophilus, the recommendation is written: There is a verse by a Greek poet, in which the meter is that of the poet himself, whereas its meaning has been handed down much earlier by divine inspiration for the consolation of pious families. ‘ The children of the pious, not the impious, live the better life ’ [Theocritus, Idyll 26.32], which in the Psalms goes like this: The generation of the upright will be blessed [Ps. 112:2]. The celebrated family Grynaeus is known by the monuments of Simon Grynaeus, who both excelled in erudition and rightly invoked God and aided the study of doctrines, which are most felicitously useful for life and the church. There is also Simon’s brother, Thomas Grynaeus, who was recently professor of Greek literature at the famous university of Basel. Now he teaches at a church in the neighbourhood of Basel. Since he both rightly invokes God and faithfully serves the church, one must not doubt that God will look after his children.23

This combination of Theocritus’ Idyll 9 and Psalm 112 is almost formulaic, for Melanchthon frequently employed it in his testimonia. Having proven by a classical and biblical quotation that God blesses the children of godly men, and since the work and writings of both Simon and Thomas Grynaeus are proof of their own godliness, by the same token, then, so too is that of Theophilus a godly work. At this point in the testimonium, Melanchthon focuses his attention on the godliness, integrity and education of Theophilus. He prays that God may safeguard his church and preserve families like the Grynaeuses. Picking up on the biblical image of the relationship of Paul and Timothy, he hopes that Theophilus may learn from his father’s teachings and faith:

23 MBW 8, Ep. 8372 (summary). The original autograph is in Basel UB, Fr. Gr. I.19, f. 92r-92v: ‘Versus est Graeci poetae, in quo numeri quidem sunt ipsius poetae, sed sententia multo ante divinitus tradita est ad piarum familiarum consolationem: ’Ευσεβέων παίδεσσι τὰ λώια, δυσσεβέων δ’οὔ [= Theocritus, Idyll 26, 32] quod in Psalmis sic dictum est, Generi [sic] rectorum benedicetur . Nota est autem familia Grynea celebrata Simonis Grynei monumentis qui et eruditione excelluit, et Deum recte invocavit, et studia doctrinarum, quae sunt utiles vitae et ecclesiae foeliciter adiuvit. Est autem frater Simonis Thomas Gryneus, qui recens in inclyta academia Basiliensi, graecorum scriptorum interpres fuit. Nunc docet ecclesiam vicinam Basileae, qui cum et recte Deum invocet, et fideliter ecclesiae serviat, non dubitandum est Deo etiam filios eius curae futuros esse.’

the influence of the protestant reformation

121

Therefore, since this Theophilus is truly dear to God, I congratulate the father, a godly man, for his son, and I thank God, who has bestowed nurseries of this sort for the church, and I pray that he may kindly preserve the church and families of this sort. I even commend the son to his father Thomas, and I urge him in turn to help out his son’s studies and that he may see to it that a teaching position in a church anywhere be granted to him. Moreover, just as Paul said that Timothy was an assiduous listener and discerner of his own teachings, so may Theophilus be an assiduous listener, following his father’s teachings and faith. What better thing can any family hope for than for a father and his sons to worship God with like piety and with one voice, and at the same time serve him in this godly service of teaching the gospel? This is the great good I wish for this family also. I have attributed this true testimony to this Theophilus not only in my name, but also on behalf of my colleagues, by whom, on account of his erudition and virtue, he has been publicly adorned with a master’s degree. Moreover, I pray that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’ [John 15:5], may preserve the church amidst these horrible confusions of the human race and the devastations of the realms and that he may at last insert this Theophilus as a branch in his vine, and make him an instrument to bless his own heart and the hearts of others. 24

Likewise, two sons of the Thuringian reformer, Justus Menius (1499– 1558), namely, Eusebius and August, were able to ride the wave of their father’s godly reputation in their search for employment. At the request of Sigismund Schörckel, the rector of the university of Greifswald, Melanchthon recommended to him on 9 February 1550 three possible candidates to teach at the university: Eusebius Menius, Johannes Cingularius or Matthäus Röseler, all three gifted individuals. He asks, however, that Schörckel diligently plead the case ( causam

24 Ibid.: ‘Cum igitur hic Theophilus vere sit Deo carus, gratulor patri, viro pio hunc filium et Deo gratias ago qui talia ecclesiae seminaria tribuit, et precor, ut ecclesiam et tales familias clementer servet. Ipsi etiam patri Thomae filium commendo, eumque adhortor ut deinceps et studia filii iuvet, et alicubi munus docendi in ecclesia ei tradi curet, ut autem Paulus inquit Timotheum fuisse adsiduum auditorem et sectatorem suae doctrinae, ita sit Theophilus assiduus auditor patris παρακολουθῶν αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίᾳ καὶ πίστει. Quid optare melius ulla familia potest, quam ut pater et filii simili pietate et una voce Deum celebrent, et simul in hac pia militia docendi evangelii ei serviant? Hoc tantum bonum et huic familiae opto. Tribui autem hoc verum testimonium huic Theophilo non tantum meo nomine, sed etiam collegarum meorum, a quo propter eruditionem et virtutem gradu magisterii philosophici publice ornatus est. Oro autem filium Dei, dominum nostrum Ihesum Christum, qui dixit: Ego sum vitis, vos palmites , ut ecclesiam inter has horribiles generis humani confusiones et imperiorum ruinas servet, et hunc Theophilum sibi tanquam palmitem inserat, et faciat eum organum salutare suae animae et aliis.’

122

milton kooistra

diligenter agas) of Menius, ‘whose father is known to many in the court,’ presumably to the university board. 25 Later, on 27 February 1550, Melanchthon reported to Justus Menius that he had written to Schörckel on behalf of his son, adding that he had made mention of his name.26 Another son of Menius, August Menius, also benefited from his father’s reputation. For on 1 May 1559, Melanchthon wrote to Johannes Marbach in Strasbourg, recommending August for a position in the school of the Franciscans. The focus of the recommendation is entirely on his late father: His father, as you know, usefully served the church of God in Thuringia, taught by preaching and writing, refuted the Anabaptists with the sharpest arguments, settled controversies of doctrine and marriage, oversaw the visitations of the churches, even in organizing returns. For these great labours this is the thanks he got: that he was expelled with great loss, because he had written that new obedience is necessary to retain the Holy Spirit [. . .] I know that you and others, who abhor sophistry, reflect upon this with great grief. Therefore, let us, who love both truth and peace, as is written: Love truth and peace [Zechariah 8:19], safeguard our bond with greater zeal. I very much ask that you give your support to this August Menius. 27

Justus Menius, a Philippist, had become involved in debates with gnesio-Lutherans, over the role of good works, asserting that they were necessary in order to retain salvation. Here very little is said of August, but instead the request is made on the basis of his father’s contributions to the church and as a bid for unity amongst Protestants in the midst of theological controversy.

MBW 6, Ep. 5726 (summary); CR 7, 543–544, Ep. 4667. MBW 6, Ep. 5741 (summary). 27 MBW 8, Ep. 8939 (summary); CR 9, 812, Ep. 6744: ‘Pater, ut scis, utiliter servivit ecclesiae Dei in Tyrigetis, docuit voce et scriptis, refutavit καταβάπτιστας acerrimis contentionibus, diiudicavit controversias dogmatum et coniugiorum, rexit inspectiones ecclesiarum, etiam in reditibus ordinandis. Pro his magnis laboribus haec est reddita gratia, ut pulsus sit cum magno damno, quia scripserat, novam obedientiam necessariam esse ad retinendum Spiritum Sanctum. [. . .] Haec scio te et alios, abhorrentes a sophistica, non sine magno dolore cogitare. Maiore igitur studio coniunctionem nostram tueamur nos, qui et veritatem et pacem diligimus, sicut praeceptum est: Diligite veritatem et pacem . Valde te oro, ut huic Augusto Menio opem feras.’ 25 26

the influence of the protestant reformation

123

The Vernacular As did the humanists, reformers duly noted the linguistic capabilities of those whom they recommended, typically their ability to read and write Latin and Greek, and occasionally Hebrew. With the Reformation, however, came an emphasis on the vernacular and vernacular scholarship. The reformers pushed to have the Bible translated into the many vernacular languages of Europe, allowing laypeople to read and interpret Scripture by themselves. Reformers, too, frequently abandoned the preferred lingua franca of academia, Latin, in favour of the vernacular. With the push and drive to preach and read in one’s native tongue, so too did references to the vernacular infiltrate letters of recommendation. When language barriers existed, reformers advised those whom they recommended to seek employment in regions where they would be understood. Their recommendations show that reformers were sensitive to the inability or unwillingness of the laity to understand Latin or even another German dialect. On 21 July 1528, Ulrich Zwingli wrote to Ambrosius Blaurer on behalf of the elderly Carthusian, Johann Schneewolf (Chiolycus), noting, however: But since he is of advanced age and since the elderly cannot easily receive a new grafting, it has come to the point that it seems he does not even know a word of our language. But it seems conducive to us, especially to the people of Bern, since they vehemently abhor the lingua peregrina [i.e. Latin], if he could be put in charge as minister of the Word near you or your neighbouring [towns], but especially at Augsburg, Ulm or Nördlingen. Do what you can. 28

The following month, Zwingli wrote to Konrad Sam, a pastor and reformer in Ulm, recommending the same Schneewolf and his younger brother, Peter, for a position in a church: ‘Since their language, call it Austrian or Lower Austrian, seems almost strange and foreign to us,

28 ZwBr 3, Ep. 736: ‘Provectae autem aetatis cum sit, nec inveterata novam insitionem facile recipiant, factum est, ut nostratem linguam ne verbo quidem agnoscere videatur. Nostri autem, praesertim Bernenses, quum a peregrina lingua vehementer abhorreant, conducibile videtur esse, si alicubi circum vos aut vicinos vestros praefici possit verbi ministerio, maxime tamen Augustae, Ulmae aut Nördlingae. Tu quod poteris, facito.’ [ ZwBr = Zwinglis Briefwechsel, E. Egli et al. (eds), 5 vols (Leipzig 1911–1935)].

124

milton kooistra

I have always advised them to betake themselves to those regions in which they might be understood a bit more easily.’ 29 Melanchthon shared this same consideration for the vernacular in his letters of recommendation as did Zwingli. On 23 November 1545, he asked Laurenz Moller in Hildesheim to recommend a certain Theodorus to Nicolaus Glossenus, pastor of the church in Magdeburg, ‘where his language will be understood.’ 30 A decade later, on 25 July 1555, Melanchthon wrote to Matthäus Collinus in Prague, asking him to welcome the Hungarian bearer of the letter, Johannes Trugnitius (Drugnetius) of Körös, who had been recommended to him by the Strasbourg preachers. After spending a month with Melanchthon, the latter now sent him with a letter of recommendation to Thomas Nádasdy in Hungary: ‘I judge that he is not a bad man, but he is a late bloomer and has not begun the rudiments of grammar. I advised him to return to a place where his language is understood and where he may serve any church in teaching the gospel.’ 31 On the hiring end, we find the same reference to the vernacular in the job descriptions. For instance, on 30 June 1545, Georg Sabinus, professor of poetry and rhetoric at the university of Königsberg, wrote to Melanchthon at the request of Duke Albert of Prussia, who was searching for a professor of theology who could also speak Polish, since he was planning a Polish translation of the Bible. Fredericus Staphylus’s name was suggested as a possibility. 32 On 1 August 1545, Joachim Camerarius and Melanchthon wrote to Duke Albert a letter in German, recommending Staphylus for the position. They attested that he was ‘godly, very learned in Christian doctrine and other praiseworthy arts and languages.’ But, most importantly, he could speak both Polish and Lithuanian. 33 On 6 September 1545, the duke responded, thanking Melanchthon for his expert opinion with regards to Staphylus, which persuaded the duke to hire him, and expressing his desire

29 ZwBr 3, Ep. 754: ‘Cum autem eorum lingua, puta Austriaca sive Pannonica, nostris ferme peregrina et aliena videatur, semper eis consului, ut sese in eas provincias reciperent, in quibus paulo rectius possent intelligi.’ 30 MBW 4, Ep. 4071 (summary); CR 8, 174, Ep. 5498. 31 MBW 7, Ep. 7540 (summary); CR 8, 513, Ep. 5819: ‘Iudico non esse malum hominem, sed est ὀψιμαθής [late in learning], nec initio didicit grammaticen. Dedi ei consilium, ut redeat in ea loca, ubi lingua eius intelligitur, et serviat alicui ecclesiae in docendo evangelio.’ 32 MBW 6, Ep. 3932 (summary). 33 MBW 6, Ep. 3977 (summary); CR 5, 813, Ep. 3238.

the influence of the protestant reformation

125

that Staphylus come to Prussia as soon as he returns from Italy. 34 On 13 December 1545, Melanchthon again wrote Albert, expressing his fear that Albert is offended by the delayed arrival of Staphylus, but writes that his ‘erudition is altogether so great that I think that no one should easily be preferred over him in that profession to which he is being called, and he knows Polish.’ 35 After a few months delay, Melanchthon could report to the duke on 17 April 1546 that Staphylus had accepted the position and would head out to Königsberg after the Leipzig spring fair, but that he did not want to commit himself to more than a year. 36 It was difficult for the Prussian dukes to attract and retain scholars at the remote university of Königsberg. On 17 June 1546, the duke responded, beseeching Melanchthon to convince Staphylus to remain for longer than a year. 37 Later that month, Albert wrote again, glad that Staphylus had arrived. 38 The duke must have been pleased with Staphylus, for in a letter to Melanchthon the following summer, he reports that he attended Staphylus’s lectures whenever possible.39 Conclusion In conclusion, we have examined several ways in which the Reformation influenced Melanchthon’s letters of recommendation. While they continued to exhibit many of the characteristics of the humanist letter of recommendation, nevertheless, they included new elements unique to the Reformation. Having learned from their own mistakes not to recommend someone too hastily, reformers like Melanchthon began to examine the creed and confession of those whom they recommended and to state specifically what the recommended believed. Since reformers promoted clerical marriage, in time, their sons were recommended, often on the basis of their father’s godly reputation and contribution to the evangelical cause. Likewise, reformers encouraged MBW 6, Ep. 4006 (summary). MBW 6, Ep. 4090 (summary); CR 5, 907, Ep. 3334: ‘De Staphili contatione vereor Celsitudinem vestram hac mora offendi. Sed profecto tanta est eius eruditio, ut neminem ei facile in ea professione ad quam vocatur anteferendum putem, et scit linguam Polonicam.’ Cf. MBW 6, Ep. 4098, 4122, and 4144. 36 MBW 4, Ep. 4233; CR 6, 111, Ep. 3443. 37 MBW 4, Ep. 4288 (summary). 38 MBW 4, Ep. 4301 (summary). 39 MBW 4, Ep. 4342 (summary). 34 35

126

milton kooistra

the use of the vernacular both in their sermons and in their writings, and consequently references to the vernacular appear in their letters of recommendation. Melanchthon’s letters of recommendation provide us with a Bild of what qualities reformers sought in those whom they recommended for positions as pastors and professors. They had to be doctrinally sound, reliable, and to have good moral fibre. In his quest for peace and concord, Melanchthon did his utmost not to promote those who might later cause further dissension within the church by heterodox opinions. This was achieved most frequently by a personal examination of the recommended’s doctrinal knowledge. Although the adoption of the Augsburg Confession in 1530 as the doctrinal standard for Lutherans was meant to provide unity amongst reformers, regrettably Terence’s familiar adage, ‘So many men, so many opinions’,40 rang all too often true. Nevertheless, Melanchthon strove to recommend suitable and appropriate candidates for positions in church, state and academia, who would promote the gospel and not cause further schisms within the church. In their capacity as pastors and professors, reformers wielded a remarkable degree of influence, by recommending approved men of evangelical convictions for a wide range of jobs, thereby ensuring the dissemination of the Reformation through those whom they recommended.

40 ‘Quot homines, tot sententiae’, cf. Terence, Phormio 454; Erasmus, Adagia, 207 (ASD II-1).

GEORGIUS CASSANDER: SEARCHING FOR RELIGIOUS PEACE IN HIS CORRESPONDENCE (1557–1565)* Rob van de Schoor (Nijmegen) Sane agnosco quam parum ingenio & doctrina valeam .1

In an essay on Georgius Cassander (1513–1566) in the sixth volume in the series Katholische Theologen der Reformationszeit (Münster 2004, edited by Heribert Smolinsky and Peter Walter), Barbara Henze proposes that Cassander’s correspondence should be published. In order to do so, it would be necessary to assemble, introduce, and annotate the letters published by Jean de Cordes in Cassander’s Opera omnia (Paris 1616), the collection Illustrium ac clarorum virorum epistolae selectiores [. . .] tributae in centurias II (Leiden 1617, compiled by Daniel Heinsius and Petrus Bertius), and Petrus Burmannus’s Sylloge epistolarum (Leiden 1724). 2 Such a collection of printed letters would need to be completed by including the unpublished letters held by the libraries of Leiden University and other institutions. The project would produce an impressive volume of letters, one that would serve to introduce the reader to the scholarly circles of which Cassander formed part, but it would also help explain the development of Cassander’s irenicism: what did he read and what books did he discuss with his correspondents? A collection of this kind would also introduce us to the letter writer Cassander and probably make clear how previous editors tackled the work of making his letters available in print. In preparing the present paper, I studied the 118 letters printed in Cassander’s Opera omnia, letters dating from 1557–1565, most of which deal with his efforts to take theological doctrines and ecclesiastical * Translation Paul Gretton. 1 Georgius Cassander, Opera omnia (Paris 1616), Ep. 33, 1124: ‘I am only too well aware of the insignificance of my intellectual and doctrinal capacities.’ 2 Sylloges epistolarum a viris illustribus scriptarum tomus II , 236–302. For information on these collections of letters and the manuscript collections on which they are based, see: R. van de Schoor, ‘The reception of Cassander in the Republic in the seventeenth century’, in The Cassandrians. Reception of Georg Cassander’s irenicism from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century [forthcoming].

128

r ob van de schoor

Fig. 6. D. Veelwaard, Portrait of Georgius Cassander, engraving. Catholic University Leuven, Central Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PA 585

georgius cassander

129

traditions that are in dispute between Roman Catholics and Protestants and test them against Holy Scripture, religious tradition, and the judgement of early-Christian and medieval theologians. The letters are directed to kindred spirits and friends, Roman Catholic opponents, and rulers and prelates who called in Cassander’s assistance to find a solution to religious disputes. Although these letters seem somewhat impersonal—and, in their resemblance to minor theological treatises, differ significantly from the more vivid written dialogue characteristic of scholarly correspondence in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries3—they still consistently arouse the curiosity of the reader, who continues to wonder what inspired this humanist figure—despite the many afflictions from which he suffered—and how he presented himself and his ideals in his letters. Such curiosity can be worked up into questions that can still only be answered to a certain extent. What is the tone of Cassander’s letters when he is writing to kindred spirits or friends, to opponents, or to holders of high office? How does he present himself in letters to sympathetic strangers? How does he pass on news: does he include the opinions of others in his letters to third parties, and does he ‘recycle’ certain passages? How does Cassander express his concern or satisfaction regarding what happens beyond the walls of his study, and what does he say about the torments of his afflictions, which repeatedly prevent him from contributing to resolving the discord in Church and State? Or, in the case of specific theological issues: is the way Cassander discusses them in his letters the same as what he has to say about them in his books? And what about the style in which those specific issues are discussed in the letters: is it adapted to the requirements of the epistolary genre and can we identify a clear difference between it and the way the same position is expressed in a printed theological work? I wish to focus in particular on the imagery that Cassander uses in his letters to describe theological disputes and the lamentable state of the Church: what comparisons does he employ and why does he do so? I will report on the differences between Cassander’s letters to his friends, his opponents, prelates and princes. Subsequently, excerpts from letters will be presented in which he deals with statements in his

3 Cf. ‘Bij wijze van inleiding. De brief in de vroegmoderne tijd’, in P.G. Hoftijzer, O.S. Lankhorst, and H.J.M. Nellen (eds), Papieren betrekkingen. Zevenentwintig brieven uit de vroegmoderne tijd (Nijmegen 2005), 9–20.

130

r ob van de schoor

printed books concerning theological matters. Some of these excerpts show that in his letters he is willing, now and then, to speak out more openly; others reveal the circumstances under which his books were written. One thing that is characteristic of Cassander as a letter writer is the way in which he comments—or in fact fails to comment—on ‘the news’, i.e. current political and theological concerns, and gives expression to his emotions. Letters

to opponents, friends, and holders of high office

Cassander displays a naive and touching certainty when he says that he trusts that his irenical writings will pass the test of Roman Catholic criticism with flying colours. If we are to believe what he says in his letters, the prospect does not disturb him of his irenical writings being assessed by the Leuven theologians Johannes Hessels and Jodocus Tiletanus, of whom he has very high expectations, 4 or Gulielmus Lindanus, the Bishop of Roermond. 5 After all, he has not stated anything that conflicts with the doctrines and tradition of the Church: learned gentlemen such as these will want to recognise that fact. 6 He is therefore all the more disappointed when he does not in fact receive the expected approval of Roman Catholic theologians 7 and when they tell him in letters—even if somewhat circumspectly—what they will later express more emphatically and in a more hostile manner in print. It has become clear that, in his turn, Cassander allows himself to criticise the Church more openly in his letters than in his books. In a long letter dated 16 September 1565 to Johannes Hessels—who in 1566 would confront him with a polemical pamphlet containing a fierce attack on his De officio pii viri8—he wrote: Ep. 73, 1176. E. Janssen, C.ss.R., ‘Gulielmus Lindanus, Georgius Cassander en hunne correspondentie van Ao 1563’, in Miscellanea Mgr. Dr. P.J.M. van Gils , Publications de la Société Historique et Archéologique dans le Limbourg 85 (1949), 311–332; J. Lindeboom, ‘Georgius Cassander en zijne pogingen tot bemiddeling en verzoening, naar aanleiding van zijn strijd met Lindanus’, in Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis n.s., 8 (1911), 1–29. 6 Ep. 95, 1197: ‘[. . .] neque tamen doctorum virorum iudicium defugio, sicubi fortassis antiquae illae et indubitatae Christi Ecclesiae mentem non satis assequutus sim.’ 7 Cf. the postscript to Ep. 26, 1118–1119. 8 This had a similar title to the work it was meant to refute: De officio pii, et Christianae pacis vere amantis viri, exurgente, aut vigente haeresi: cum refutatione sententiae cuiusdam falso hoc ipsum docere promittentis (Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1566). 4 5

georgius cassander

131

And I also believe that, under the mantle of the Catholic faith, the Pharisaic leaven may still be hidden of which every pious believer should beware; and one must not say of him who bewares that by doing so he has thus distanced himself from the purity of the Catholic Church. And I do not doubt that the Faith, like all other virtues, exists between two extremes: in other words between Pharisaic superstition and heretical or schismatic unbelief. Erasmus put it very well when he was the object of an accusation of that kind: ‘He is not a bad helmsman who can steer a course between Scylla and Charybdis and—to speak more in the language of Scripture—he only makes true progress who takes the royal road, deviating neither to right nor left.’9 It is the extremes which I consider to be so very pernicious and which must therefore be avoided. If they did not exist, then so many pious men within the Catholic Church itself would have emphatically warned in vain for so long against abuses in the Church that must be corrected. This is why I do not wish to support those who present what is correct and pure as malformed and evil, but I consider that the rule of apostolic doctrine must be followed, as appears from the ancient, unbroken, and unchangeable tradition of the Church.10

It is in the same candid tone, in a letter of 1565 to Johannes Metellus (Jean Matal), that Cassander discusses the supposed sympathy of the Emperor for the Augsburg Confession and why that sympathy is not so surprising. His investigation of the Lutheran Confession of Faith—his Consultatio, which Maximilian II had received a little time previously—therefore contains opportunities for reconciliation: Sambucus11 therefore writes regarding the Consultatio that Maximilian has always favoured the Augsburg Confession; I believe that a major

I was not able to locate this quotation. Ep. 106, 1212–1213: ‘Item et illud credo, sub titulo Catholicae fidei etiam fermentum Pharizaicum latere posse, a quo pio cuique cavendum sit, et a quo qui caveat, non ideo tamen a Catholicae Ecclesiae puritate recedere dicendus sit: nec dubito, ut reliquas virtutes, ita et religionem in medio duorum extremorum consistere, hoc est, inter Pharizaicam supersti[ti]onem, et schismaticam seu haereticam impietatem; recteque ab Erasmo dictum est, cum aliquid tale illi obiiceretur: “Non male illum navigare, qui inter Scyllam et Charybdim naviget: et (ut divinis literis magis consentanee loquatur) illum demum recte incedere, qui regia via ingrediatur; ita ut neque ad dexteram, neque ad sinistram declinet”, atque sunt extrema illa, quae tanquam vitiosa vitanda puto. Quae si nulla essent, etiam in ipsa Catholica Ecclesia frustra tam multi pii viri iamdudum de corrigendis abusibus in Ecclesia tanto studio monuissent. Neque propterea probo illos, qui ea, quae recta et sana sunt, tanquam prava et vitiata traducunt, sed regulam Apostolicae doctrinae in antiqua, perpetua, et constanti Ecclesiae traditione explicatam sequendam existimo.’ 11 On him, see A.S.Q. Visser, Joannes Sambucus and the Learned Image. The Use of the Emblem in Late-Renaissance Humanism (Leiden-Boston 2005). 9

10

132

r ob van de schoor reason for his doing so is to be found in the fact that in that Confession some disorders and errors of the present Church seem to be pointed out and improved but without going so far as to remove and abolish what is good and healthy and what the present Church shares with the early Christian Church, which was the true Bride of Christ. It is for that reason—as Sambucus points out—that I have sought rapprochement in my book with the Augsburg Confession: my work, as I have said, therefore genuinely contains no warning, because in this book I have followed only the dictates of my conscience and I did not find it necessary to deviate therefrom out of consideration to each of the two confessions. 12

In order to show that he genuinely believed that he had found a solution, Cassander copied into his letter two sections from the conclusion of the Consultatio, the manuscript of which Metellus had naturally not yet seen. Cassander was so satisfied with his book that he did not find it necessary to answer Maximilian’s letters—although he had sometimes quoted from them in his own—because the Consultatio took the place of an answering missive. The network of scholarly friends within which Cassander operates comprises humanists and classicists living in the area of the lower Rhine and the Southern Netherlands as well as various figures at the imperial court of Maximilian II. The most important of these figures are described in Peter Arnold Heuser’s impressive study of Metellus. 13 Of the others—people like Matthias Sittardus and Jacobus Horstius 14 (whose names suggest that they came from the area that is now the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg)—we know relatively little. In the letters that Cassander wrote to the Emperors Ferdinand I and Maximilian II, to Wilhelm V, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, the Archbishops of Trier (Johannes VI von der Leyen) and Cologne (Fridericus IV von Wied) and the Bishop of Münster (Wilhelm von Ketteler), the first thing he does is explain why he has delayed so long in answering. He says exactly when he received a letter from his highly placed correspondent, how long it has remained unanswered, and what excuses he Ep. 93, 1194. P.A. Heuser, Jean Matal. Humanistischer Jurist und europäischer Friedensdenker (um 1517–1597) (Cologne-Weimar-Vienna 2003). 14 ‘Horstius’ is Jacob Coemans, who acted as an intermediary in the conflict between Lindanus and Cassander; cf. P.A.M. Geurts and J.A.M.M. Janssen, ‘De Horstenaar Jacob Coemans (ca. 1515–1592) en zijn relaties met de staatsman Viglius van Aytta (1507–1577)’, in P.A.M. Geurts et al. (eds), Horster Historiën 2. Van heren en gemeentenaren (Horst 1988), 145–160. 12 13

georgius cassander

133

has: a whole range of painful disorders, described in all their distasteful detail in convoluted Latin sentences. In his letters to Ferdinand and Maximilian, Cassander regularly refuses invitations to visit Vienna or to write something that would promote peace negotiations between the various confessions, doing so with reference to his weak state of health. But such refusals are always accompanied by the assurance that there are many learned men who would be able to do this just as well as Cassander and probably even better. 15 In an undated letter, he confides to Metellus that the imperial missives rarely mention payment and if they do hold out the prospect of money, he would need to wait months for it. In the meantime, he has in fact had to pay two thalers to the courier who brought Ferdinand’s letters. ‘Vide igitur, quam parum tutum sit famae credere’ (‘See, therefore, how unwise it is to trust in fame’), Cassander adds. 16 Particularly interesting are the letters in which Cassander introduces his correspondents to one another. In one from before 1561—this is dated 22 November, but the actual year is unknown 17—he tells Henricus Baers, Chancellor to the Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, who François Baudouin is: a lawyer and legal historian whose diligent study of the early Christian Church has made him better able than anyone else to formulate a balanced judgement on the current theological disputes. Incidentally, adds Cassander, legal historians would seem to be extremely suitable as irenicists. Claude d’Espence, who was present at the Colloque de Poissy, is presented to Joachim Hopperus in a letter dated 6 June 1563. 18 Now and again, Cassander requests his correspondents to answer a letter on his behalf, as in the case of the Leuven theologian Jean de Vendeville. De Vendeville had written Cassander a cordial letter with a view to commencing a friendly correspondence, but Cassander—as he wrote to Pedro Ximenez—did not feel like becoming involved. 19 Would Ximenez—who also corresponds

See, for example, Ep. 89, 1188–1189, a letter to Maximilian II dated 9 January 1565. Ep. 83, 1185: ‘Quod vero de ducentis aureis addis, merae nugae sunt, neque enim obolum unum accepi, neque in literis Maximiliani ulla fuit pecuniae mentio; quin potius duos daleros in tabellarium, qui alteras Ferdinandi Augustae memoriae literas attulit, impendi. Scripserat quidem Ferdinandus in alteris literis se centum aureos mihi numerari iussisse, sed iam aliquot menses elapsi sunt, nec hilum ad me venit.’ 17 Ep. 68, 1161. In the Opera omnia, this letter is included with the letters for the year 1563, but given the actual content of the letter, that date is impossible. 18 Ep. 60, 1155. 19 Ep. 44, 1141. 15

16

134

r ob van de schoor

with this De Vendiville—perhaps be prepared to write to this goodhearted fellow, telling him that Cassander would not hesitate to be friends with him but that his fragile state of health means he is unable to answer many of his letters? As a ‘pen friend’ for De Vendeville, Cassander would turn out to be a disappointment, certainly compared to Ximenez.20 Later (? ), Cassander did in fact write to De Vendeville on behalf of a friend, the Cologne physician Johannes Bachoven von Echt (Echtius), asking him to consult Leuven jurists on a legal question. Even though no regular correspondence had taken place between them, Cassander did remember De Vendeville when contact needed to be made between Leuven and Cologne. News and personal outpourings In a letter to the Emperor Maximilian in which he excuses his ‘insignificant’ essay on the Eucharist under two forms (1565), 21 Cassander writes: ‘I wish that I had a bit more time to ponder and that I had been given better health for the efforts that my studies demand; I could then distinguish certain questions more effectively and explain them more clearly. Indeed, I could even add some arguments here and there that have to do with the matter, a few of which I came across when rereading the little book and browsing through various writings.’ This is in fact the refrain of many of Cassander’s letters to holders of high office: he is sick and weak, and therefore hardly able to gather together all the relevant theological arguments, meaning that his publications are less convincing than they might otherwise have been. In the same year, he tells the Emperor: ‘Recently, there has not been a moment when I have not been in pain; it was either stomach ache, nausea, headache, or festering abscesses; pain in my jaws and teeth, or indeed in other parts of my body: neck, shoulders, hands, hips, knees, feet, and so forth. The attacks of arthritis are breaking down my extremely weak little body and exhausting me totally.’ 22 To Andreas Masius he wrote— not without self-mockery—after complaining about pain in his feet: ‘I was once a spry Peripateticus; now, I am not perhaps a Cynic but I am

20 21 22

Ep. 66, 1160–1161. Ep. 95, 1197: De communione in utraque specie . Ep. 107, 1198.

georgius cassander

135

often forced to be a clinicus, something that is on the worst possible footing with the study of letters.’ 23 Cassander’s regret that he could not comply with the expectations that the two rulers had of him was tempered—if we are to believe his letters and if we are not simply dealing with a modesty topos—by the certainty that there were others who were just as able as he to promote the case of religious peace. His references to sympathisers, or even to an irenicist party, in letters from the years prior to the Colloque de Poissy show how the chance of reconciliation and accommodation seems for a time to grow, only to quickly expire. In a letter to Ximenez (October 1561? ), he describes the political situation in France in a much-quoted passage (with an allusion to Caesar’s De bello Gallico): the irenicist party is thus not in such a bad position. 24 In a letter to Ximenez that he probably wrote in August 1564, Cassander relates how news had reached him of the death of the Emperor Ferdinand on 26 July 1564.25 Shortly before, the Emperor had entreated him to draw up a comparison—despite his weak health—of the Augsburg Confession and Roman Catholic doctrine. Cassander is prepared to copy out passages from the Emperor’s letter for Ximenez but only on condition that he does not let just anyone read them. Ferdinand’s letter had greatly moved him: Christendom should thank God for such a peace-loving Emperor, who had put his trust in the weakest of his subjects: But once more, my dear Ximenez, you can hardly imagine how much sorrow and embarrassment overcame me when I realised the weight of the task assigned to me and compared it to the weakness of my intellect, my theological incompetence, and my literary impotence, and when

Ep. 85, 1186. Ep. 37, 1131: ‘Gallia est omnis in tres factiones divisa; una ab adversariis dicta Papistarum, cuius caput est Cardinalis Turnonius cum nonnullis Episcopis, Abbatibus, Monachis, Sorbonic[i]s, et paucis ex nobilitate. Alterius factionis dictae vulgo Hugonistarum, vel Calvinianorum, vel novellorum princeps est Dominus de Conde frater Regis Navarrae homo iuvenis, et (ut aiunt) temerarius [. . .]. Tertio loco est ordo moderatorum, et pacificatorum, qui et corrigenda nonnulla in Ecclesia agnoscunt, neque tamen importunitatem novellorum (ut vocant) Concionatorum approbant [. . .]. Huius sententiae et animi sunt Rex Navarrae, et Regina mater, Episcopus Valentinus vir prudentissimus, Cancellarius Regni Hospitalius dictus, optimi quoque et praestantissimi ex Regiis consiliariis, et inter eos vir doctissimus et praecipui nominis Paulus Foxius, ex Sorbonicis praecipui Espencaeus et Salignacus Abbas [. . .].’ 25 Ep. 79, 1182. 23 24

136

r ob van de schoor I compared all these with the extremely erudite writings of other very learned men on this question of belief.

The report of Ferdinand’s death therefore aroused extremely mixed feelings in him: I had progressed, however—not without a great deal of difficulty—to the fifth article of the Augsburg Confession, and I did so by comparing the most sensible views of each of the two parties with those of the other, weighing them against the judgement of the early Christian Church and of later theologians to see what of that judgement should be recorded. It was when I was pondering all this that the report of the Emperor’s death reached me, . . . an event that affected me like the death of one of my family—the death of a true guardian of the Church. But—to my relief—this did grant me a certain postponement of the work, which had almost destroyed me.

Cassander would finish the Consultatio early in 1565, but Maximilian could no longer make any use of it. 26 The book did not appear in print until 1577. Generally, however, Cassander hardly shows whether or not a news report has affected him personally. When the French wars of religion broke out,27 a few months after the failure of the Colloque de Poissy, François Baudouin reported on these events in a letter to Cassander, after which Cassander discussed the situation in France with Ximenez. Baudouin reports with dismay on the civil war that was threatening to engulf France and the massacre that had taken place at Vassy on 1 March 1562.28 For the rest, I consider those individuals happy who have been freed from the confusion of this life. For the more deeply I consider the vicissitudes of our times, the more I long for the haven. [. . .] They say, right enough, that it is a war over religion. But how foreign to all religion is war, especially a civil war? Let alone a war in the Church! [. . .] You have already heard of the absolutely tragic disturbances in France. Let us hope

M.E. Nolte, Georgius Cassander en zijn oecumenisch streven (Nijmegen 1951), 31. M.P. Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629 (Cambridge 1995), 50–56. 28 M. Erbe,‘François Bauduin und Georg Cassander. Dokumente einer Humanistenfreundschaft’, in Bibliothèque d’humanisme et Renaissance 40 (1978), 537–560: letter 12, also printed in Petrus Bertius, Illustrium et clarorum virorum epistolae selectiores superiore saeculo scriptae vel a Belgis vel ad Belgas (Leiden 1617), Centuria 1, 32 (148–152). 26

27

georgius cassander

137

that what is now hanging over our heads is not an even more dreadful catastrophe!29

Cassander, by contrast, would seem to be resigned to the impending disaster: nothing more can be done about it and it is only God who can prevent a catastrophe. He allows no misunderstanding about the fact that it is the Roman Catholic Church that has provoked the war: This, briefly, is the situation in France, meaning that it would seem that peace and tranquillity cannot be restored by any human intervention but only through divine providence. And if it should indeed come to war, then the worst is to be expected. Those in high positions within the Church seem not to have properly or wisely considered whether they are not in fact those who have instigated the war; as if they think they can extinguish fire with oil, they have recourse to a strange and unsuited remedy that is little in accordance with their office. Other more suitable remedies should be applied because until now they have always been neglected; we must now fear that the harm will only be increased and reinforced, with the greatest damage to these prelates and to the whole of Christendom. In the meantime, we must call upon God’s aid and defend ourselves with spiritual weapons, in other words by living a pious life and praying fervently. That is all that we can do.30

In two other letters, both dated 1 June 1562, to Ximenez and Arnold Birckmann, Cassander expresses in almost the same words his wish that the war would cease now that the Protestants have gained so many successes, successes that must act as a spur to the Roman Catholic Church to commence real reform. 31 In some letters, Cassander provides information regarding the reasons for a publication, for example his report of a discussion he had with an Anabaptist in 1565, at the same time showing that he does not think much of Jesuits. In a letter from Cologne to Adolphus Baers dated 24 July 1565, 32 Cassander says that he had heard that some sixty Anabaptists had been arrested in a vineyard, where they had assembled for a night-time prayer meeting. A few had escaped, including a 29 Erbe, ‘François Bauduin und Georg Cassander’, 554: ‘Alioqui beatos nunc eos esse iudico, qui ex huius vitae confusione liberantur. Nam et quo magis horum temporum intemperiem considero, tantoque magis ad portum aspiro. [. . .] Dicitur quidem esse de religione certamen. Sed quam aliena ab omni religione sunt bella plus quam civilia? quid dicam Ecclesiastica? [. . .] Audiisti antea de tumultibus Gallicis plane tragicis. Utinam, quae nunc impendet, non sit multo funestior catastrophe!’ 30 Ep. 44, 1140. 31 Ep. 45, 1141; Ep. 46, 1142. 32 Ep. 101, 1203–1204.

138

r ob van de schoor

certain Croocht, who had long been considered a renowned scholar among the Anabaptists. Those arrested included many women, girls, and young boys, some of whom were sent home. Among those still held was the greatly respected widow (De) Vae(d)t of Bonn. Cassander was invited by the Archbishop of Cologne to dispute on matters of faith with a young man, Matthias Cervaes, and he in fact accepted the invitation.33 A discussion lasting four hours convinced him that he was dealing with a self-assured and stubborn individual. ‘The day before I went to see him, two Jesuits had engaged him in dispute’, Cassander tells Baers, ‘their reasoning seems to have disconcerted him somewhat because, as he told me, they had defended everything that is today current in the Roman Catholic Church— with the exception of the Papal indulgences—under the pretext of defending ecclesiastical doctrinal authority, thus making it significantly more difficult for me to discuss with him.’ He had nevertheless done his best and attempted to convince Matthias Cervaes of a number of important theological insights: he had discussed with him the doctrinal authority of the ancient and unchanging consensus of the Church, which formed the foundations of the most important articles of faith, and he had attempted to show him how dangerous it was to invoke a literal interpretation of the Bible without calling in the aid of the Roman Catholic interpretative tradition because then anyone—seduced by pride—could interpret the Bible as he pleased, as one could see nowadays among the many heretics who were competing with one another. Cassander had also dealt with infant baptism in this connection. When he was about to draw up a report on his dispute with Cervaes in order to present it to the bishop, as the Jesuits had done before him, he had read and heard to his great surprise that they had denied the resurrection of the dead. He had thereupon returned to Cervaes a few days later to speak to him about this article of faith. He then found that the Jesuits had not so much denied the resurrection of the dead—that would have been going a wee bit too far—but they had been confused

33 See Nolte, Georgius Cassander en zijn oecumenisch streven , 19; K. Rembert, Die ‘Wiedertäufer’ im Herzogtum Jülich. Studien zur Geschichte der Reformation, besonders am Niederrhein (Berlin 1899), 475–476 (should this Anabaptist ‘Croocht’ perhaps be identified as Heinrich or Johann Kruἀ?); Cassander, Opera omnia, 1234–1240: Acta colloquii in aedibus vicecomitis Coloniae, XII. Julij, anno Domini M.DLXV .

georgius cassander

139

about the actual facts of the matter. 34 They had failed to make a clear distinction between substantia (or natura) and naturales qualitates. The latter—Man’s earthly frame—was naturally transitory, while the substantia was preserved. In order to clarify the matter, Cassander had explained the resurrection of Christ to the young Anabaptist, whom the Jesuits had thoroughly confused. Christ had risen from the dead on the third day after his Crucifixion in the same body as that in which He had been born and had died. On the Day of Judgement, believers will rise from the dead with their bodies, but also with spiritual qualities such as incorruptibility, glory, and immortality. In the words of St Paul: ‘Oportet corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem.’ 35 In his report of his discussions with Cervaes ( Acta colloquii in aedibus vicecomitis Coloniae, XII. Julij, anno Domini M.DLXV , published in his Opera omnia), Cassander deals briefly with the matter of the Jesuits, when—in answer to Cassander’s pleading for the importance of the interpretative tradition for a proper understanding of Scripture— the Anabaptist responds that he does not trust any human authority. The two Jesuits had often gone astray and had differed from one another in their opinions; there were so many terrible abuses within the Church that had started right back in the time of the Apostles, and infant baptism was one of them. He added that the Jesuits had misinterpreted a passage in the Bible and that they had argued with one another about the interpretation of certain doctrines. Cassander would seem to wish to soften an unfavourable judgement of the conduct of the two Jesuits when he adds that this wrangling had not severed ‘the bond of concord and love’. ‘But I pointed out,’ says Cassander, ‘that we were not talking about the private views of the two Jesuit fathers but about the public testimony of the whole Church, from which we learn the universal judgement and public belief of the whole Church, and in this testimony learn the true apostolic doctrine concerning those questions which are the most important articles of faith and the basis of our belief.’ 36 34 This confusion is supposedly caused by the teachings of Origen in this regard (Ep. 101, 1204): ‘deprehendi illos [. . .] de modo resurrectionis futurae non nihil Origenicum sapere [. . .].’ 35 1 Cor. 15:53: ‘For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.’ 36 Cassander, Opera Omnia, 1236: ‘Respondit se nulla humana auctoritate niti, patres saepe errasse et inter se dissentire, multas esse abominationes in Ecclesia, quae statim Apostolorum tempore coeperunt, atque in iis quoque esse Baptismum Parvulorum.

140

r ob van de schoor

It is in virtually the same words that Cassander relates this story to Cornelis Wouters a few weeks later, although without mentioning the matter of the Jesuits. 37 Theology in letters and books Cassander has a curious way of participating in the disturbing theological actualité: as a humanist scholar, he browses in libraries to discover what can put a stop to the troubles going on in the streets. ‘I praise the attitude of those who search out old books—particularly those dealing with religious matters—in the libraries where they are buried, and publish them; but I am all the more irritated by those who do so in a careless and clumsy manner.’ 38 It is therefore unsurprising that in the epistola nuncupatoria, a dedicatory letter to Henricus Baers accompanying an edition of the work of the martyr Vigilius Tapsensis, Cassander writes that he has found a solution to the current theological discord but that he does not yet intend to reveal it. 39 That solution would seem to have been suggested by reading the work of Vigilius, which Cassander says is extremely topical. It consists of a programme for peace comprising five capita. If it is implemented, not only all those who belong to the Church of Christ will be encouraged to embrace ‘the true and Catholic faith of Christ’ but also many Moslems and Jews. ‘What those capita may Ad ea paulo latius dictum est, Patres privatim in loco aliquo scripturae interpretando, falsos esse, et quaestionibus aliquot explicandis inter se dissensisse, servato tamen charitatis et unitatis vinculo. Sed nos haec non loqui de privatis huiusmodi patrum opinionibus: sed de publico testimonio totius Ecclesiae ex quo communem sensum et publicam fidem totius Ecclesiae cognoscimus, atque in hoc testimonio de vera Apostolica doctrina, in iis quae ad capitales Articulos, et fundamenta nostrae fidei pertine[n]t.’ 37 Ep. 104, 1208. 38 Ep. 25, 1117: ‘Laudo institutum eorum, qui veteres libros, praesertim ad res Ecclesiasticas pertinentes in Bibliothecis passim sepultos proferunt, et in lucem emittunt, quo magis irascor illis qui eandem rem negligenter et infoeliciter faciunt.’ Cassander’s irritation was aroused by the publication by Wolfgang Lazius of Fragmenta quaedam Caroli Magni . . . aliorumque incerti nominis de veteris Ecclesiae ritibus ac ceremoniis . . . adiectum est perelegans opus Rabani Mauri . . . de virtutibus, vitiis ac ceremoniis eiusdem antiquae ecclesiae (Antwerp: Joannes Bellerus, 1560). With respect to this book, see P. Polman, L’Élement historique dans la controverse religieuse du XVIe siècle (Gembloux 1932), 433. 39 Georgius Cassander, B. Vigilii martyris et episcopi Tridentini Opera (Cologne: Arnold Birckmann, 1555), [18]-[19]. Also in: Cassander, Opera Omnia, 449–611; letter to Henricus Baers, nonis Martiis 1555, on p. 449–458.

georgius cassander

141

be,’ says Cassander, ‘that can remove the causes and consequences of the infection of heresy and can purify and cure those who have been touched by it is not something that I will explain here at the present because this is not the place to present them, and the question requires a longer explanation than is possible here.’ 40 Curious about this mysterious allusion to a ‘roadmap for peace’, Johannes Molinaeus had written to Cassander asking him to lift just a corner of the veil. Cassander answered on 23 November 1559 41 that he had decided that he should not yet reveal his five-point peace programme because he was fearful of ill-intentioned judgements and calumny. He does however say that he has confidence in the humanity of his correspondent and that he will therefore reveal the most important of his five capita. What could not be revealed in print could thus be revealed in a letter to a friend: In the dedicatory letter referred to, these five capita must be reduced to two, those that are the most important and most essential, with the first aimed at improvement in the public domain and the second improvement in the private domain. The public improvement comprises three components, three specific questions.42

These are the improvement of the moral fibre of priests and congregation; restraint as regards religious ceremonies and rites; and caution and diffidence in the instruction of the faithful as regards non-essential and complex points of faith. In the private domain, those who adhere to heretical thinking must be incited to return to the true Faith, but without compulsion, whereas, on the other hand, one must prevent the spread of such heretical thinking among innocent believers. It seems likely that this peace programme formed the basis for the proposal that Cassander published in 1561 during the Colloque de 40 Cassander, B. Vigilii . . . Opera, [18]–[19]: ‘Porro hanc omnem, de qua dicere coepimus, curationem quinque potissimum capitibus constare puto, quae si in usum vocentur, spero equidem fore, ut non modo multi ex iis, qui in Ecclesiae corpore constituti videntur, verumetiam ex Mahumetanis et Iudaeis, qui longius a nobis separantur, veram et Catholicam Christi fidem tandem aliquando amplectantur. Verum quaenam haec sint, quibus et haereticae contagionis stirpes et semina revelli, eosque qui iam correpti sunt, curari et sanari posse credam, in praesentia exponere non attinet, quum id huius propositi non sit, et res longiorem explicationem requirat, quam hic locus patiatur.’ 41 Ep. 16, 1099. 42 Ep. 16, 1100: ‘Haec igitur quinque capita ad duo summa et praecipua capita in eadem epistola commemorata referenda sunt, quorum prius publicam, alterum privatam curationem spectat. Publica curatio tres partes, seu specialia capita complectitur.’

142

r ob van de schoor

Poissy in his De officio pii viri. In this treatise, after all, he proposes a comparable distinction between the private and public domains, although this is given a different interpretation in De officio pii viri, in which he discerns between the responsibilities of the individual believer and those of Church leaders. In this irenical treatise of 1561, a distinction is made between study of religious doctrine on the one hand and ceremonies and religious discipline on the other. From both categories, institutions and traditions are separated in the final instance that can be classified as superstition or abuse; these must be abandoned, if that is possible without confusion and unrest. Cassander’s letter to Molinaeus links the peace programme that had only been hinted at in his edition of Vigilius to the proposals to be revealed in De officio pii viri. De officio has the following to say about how to deal with heretics: In my view, one must first condemn heresies which have abandoned Christ, the Head of the Church, by their perverse teachings about Him, and His Body by their wicked schism, and then—among those two parties that retain the foundations of the Faith, even if one does not agree on everything relating to rites and opinions—one must firmly aim to maintain a community of love and not shrink from any effort to also bring about complete and solid unity. I believe that this is the duty of the pious man who is concerned with his salvation in these turbulent and dangerous times. I believe that he who accomplishes this is a true and pure Catholic, because I believe that the true and sincere faith is to be found between two evils. 43

Contrary to what one might expect of an irenical theologian from the Erasmian-humanist tradition, Cassander did not restrict himself in his theological discourse to the Church Fathers and the early Christian Church; rather, he also investigated the writings of mediaeval theologians in search of insights that might prove useful in sixteenth-century controversies.44 In the letter to Molinaeus in which he explains the 43 Georgius Cassander, De officio pii viri (Basel 1561), 25–26: ‘Quin potius haeresibus, quae per impia de Christo dogmata a capite Christo, et nefario schismate ab eius corpore recesserunt, damnatis, in utraque hac parte quae funda mentum religionis retinet ita versandum existimo, ut si non per omnia in ritibus et senten tiis conveniatur, charitatis tamen communio firmiter retineatur, et ad plenam quoque so lidamque concordiam con stituendam omni studio con tendatur. Hoc ego officium pii viri, suaeque saluti consultum volentis, his perturbatissimis periculorumque plenissimis temporibus, esse iudico. Quod qui praestent, eos vere pureque Catholicos esse et dici posse arbitror.’ 44 Cf. Nolte, Georgius Cassander en zijn oecumenisch streven , 86–87.

georgius cassander

143

peace programme that we have just considered, he refers in the context of his first ‘action point’—improvement of morality in the Church and the removal of abuses—to mediaeval theologians who pressed for necessary reforms of the Church, 45 for example Guillaume Durant, ‘vulgo Speculator dictus’, 46 Petrus de Alliaco (Pierre d’Ailly, De emendatione Ecclesiae), Matthaeus Cracoviensis (Matthaeus de Cracovia, De naevis et squaloribus Ecclesiae ), Jacobus de Paradiso ( De VII. Statibus Ecclesiae, in Apocalysi descriptis and De auctoritate Ecclesiae, & de eius reformatione), and Petrus Episcopus Urbevetanus, while later Nicolaus de Cusa ( De concordantia Catholica ) and Pico della Mirandola ( De reformandis moribus) devoted themselves to the same cause. The third point in Cassander’s programme—caution in instructing disputed, non-essential articles of faith—had already been considered by Jean Gerson ( in declarationibus defectuum Ecclesiasticorum , cap. 6), Guillaume Durant ( de concilio generali celebrando , pars II, rubrica lvii), and Gabriel Biel ( in Canonem Licet , lxix). The value of ecclesiastical institutions and the religious tradition was also discussed by Gerson47 (Liber de vita spirituali animae), Erasmus, Thomas Caietanus (de obligatione praecepti quaest. xxi) and Panormitanus ( De clericis coniugatis, cap. Cum olim). The conclusion therefore must be that Cassander’s Erasmian-humanist irenicism is based on wide reading of scholastic theology. In Defensio insontis libelli , references to these mediaeval writers are not in fact lacking: Gabriel Biel, ‘vir alioqui non indoctus nec ineptus’ (actually, by no means an ignorant or illiterate man),48 Alexander Alesius, and others are cited in defence of Cassander’s views as expounded in De officio pii viri. In this work, it is above all St Augustine and St Jerome who are cited as authorities. Cassander also refers in a number of letters to such authors as Paschasius Radbertus, Honorius Augustodunensis, and Rupertus Tuitiensis, whose work he was able to consult in an edition published by his friend, the Cologne printer Arnold Birckmann s(ub pingue gallina).49 He tells Johannes Sambucus that he is engaged in an exhaustive search for a book by Hincmarus, a ninth-century archbishop of Reims, who

Ep. 16, 1100. See also Ep. 72, 1168 ( Guillelmi Duranti Rationale divinorum officiorum). 47 See G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes, Jean Gerson, zijn kerkpolitiek en ecclesiologie (The Hague 1963), 266. 48 Cassander, Opera omnia, 849. 49 Heuser, Jean Matal, 17. 45 46

144

r ob van de schoor

had disputed in writing with his cousin of the same name, Bishop Hincmarus of Laon. 50 Cassander’s reference to Rupertus Tuitiensis deserves further attention. On 6 November 1557,51 Cassander wrote to the bishop of Münster, Wilhelm von Ketteler, regarding the importance of figurative language and imagery, as an introduction to explaining the real presence of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist according to the views of another mediaeval theologian, Paschasius Radbertus (= Ratramne de Corbie). 52 According to the latter, for a proper understanding of the real presence and transubstantiation, a distinction must be made between the physical and spiritual Body of Christ: both were the ‘verum corpus’, but the physical body now remained in heaven after being born of the Virgin Mary and dying on the Cross; the spiritual Body was present on each occasion in the Eucharist when the bread and wine were turned into the Body and Blood of Christ at the Consecration. In his letter, Cassander prepares the bishop for the far-reaching consequences of this theological find, giving an explanation of the figurative use of language, for which he had consulted the twelfth-century theologian Rupertus de Deutz (Rupertus Tuitiensis): 53 So if someone wishes to move another person and rouse him by speech, it is necessary to convey the purpose in his own mind into the mind of the listener by means of distinct words. This purpose, grasped by the listener, is associated with the issue that abides in the mind of the speaker, precisely so that the same thing can be said. After all, we rightly say ‘I have taken your meaning, I get your idea’, by which similitude Rupertus de Deutz has so aptly profited.54

50 Ep. 110, 1217; see also Ep. 19, 1103. Cf. R. Schieffer (ed.), Die Streitschriften Hinkmars von Reims und Hinkmars von Laon, 869–871 (Hannover 2003). 51 Ep. 2, 1081. 52 Ratramnus, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini. Texte établi d’après les manuscrits et notice bibliographique , J.N. Bakhuizen van den Brink (ed.) (Amsterdam 1954) (= Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, afd. Letterkunde, new series, vol. 61, no. 1). 53 Rupertus Abbatis Monasterii Tuitiensis, De Divinis Officiis Libri XII (Cologne: Arnold Birckmann, 1532), lib. 2 de divinis officiis, cap. 9, [16]. 54 Ep. 2, 1081: ‘Ita si quis alium commovere oratione et incitare velit, necessum est ut animi sui sententiam in animum audientis per voces significantes transferat, quae sententia ab auditore comprehensa coniuncta est rei, quae in animo loquentis manet, prorsus ut eadem dici possit. Vere enim dicimus, accepi tuam sententiam, teneo tuam mentem, qua similitudine quam appositissime usus est Rupertus Tuitiensis.’

georgius cassander

145

In the difficult passage from Rupertus’s De divinis officiis from which Cassander takes this reasoning—in the margin of the 1532 edition this is cheerfully praised as an ‘apta similitudo’—a comparison is made between the Incarnation of Christ and the expression of ideas. The physical expression of language, in other words the sound, is received by the listener’s ears but once the words have been spoken it disappears into nothingness, whereas the thoughts continue to exist in the head of the speaker and are recreated in the brain of the hearer when he hears the sound. So did the Word of God take on the physical form of flesh and blood when the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus and the physical form of bread and wine in the Eucharist. Just like language that has been expressed and disappears, so is this form of the Eucharistic Body transitory and fleeting. But the Word to which it has given expression continues to exist intact with the Father (the speaker) but at the same time is communicated, at Communion, to the believer (the listener). 55 This theological communication model—in which the simple truth ‘the Word was made flesh’ is made so (un?)understandable by means of scholastic cleverness that it becomes baffling—is cited by Cassander in order to convince the bishop that his view of the Eucharist is in no way in accordance with that of Calvin. Imagery Cassander conforms to the humanist tradition in his conviction that language offers the solution to theological disputes and misunderstandings. Everything depends on how one puts things into words; the important thing is to express theological issues in such a way that all the parties understand them properly. This is the reason for Cassander’s great interest, as we have just seen, in figurative language, in imagery. His letters are full of analogies intended to get across the essence of theological intricacies to his correspondent. 55 Rupertus Tuitiensis, De Divinis Officiis, lib. 2, cap. 9, [16]: ‘Quemadmodum in corporeis sensibus menti et corpulento aëri media lingua intervenit, et utrunque conjugens unum sermonem efficit, quo in aures dimisso, id quod audibile est, cito absumitur et transit: sensus autem sermonis et in dicente et in eo qui audit integer permanet et inconsumptus. Sic verbum patris, carni et sanguini, quae de utero virginis assumpserat, et pani ac vino quod de altari assumpsit, medium interveniens, unum sacrificium efficit, quod cum in ora fidelium sacerdos distribuit, panis et vinum assumitur et transit. Partus autem virginis cum unito sibi verbo patris et in coelo et in hominibus integer permanet et inconsumptus.’

146

r ob van de schoor

In many cases, Cassander—but also other sixteenth-century theologians—compares the abuses within the Roman Catholic Church—which the Protestants had seized upon in order to separate themselves—with an infectious disease. 56 Somebody who comes into contact with a disease can respond in a number of different ways: he can deny that it exists (as Catholics tend to do); he can endure it (Castellio and other adherents of tolerance choose acquiescence); he can attempt to exterminate the illness (and the affected body) by cutting off the affected limbs (and even limbs that are not affected!)—a radical approach chosen by the Protestants—or he can attempt to cure the disease (the objective of Cassander and other irenicists). The idea that abuses within the Church are a kind of infectious disease imposes farreaching requirements on the kind of treatment: protection of those portions of the Church that have not yet been affected, in particular the authentic components of the Faith, becomes extremely important. The image of an infectious disease can also be applied to such heresies as Anabaptism. In another letter, directed to Georg Witzel, 57 Cassander compares the Church to an extremely well-formed and fruitful tree, one rooted in the apostolic tradition and the doctrine of the gospels. In the course of time, however, the tree has grown crooked due to the negligence of those to whose care it was entrusted; it has thus been robbed of its beauty and now produces fruits that are less sweet and fragrant. At the point when the tree tilted over so far that it seemed likely to collapse, some individuals rushed forward to set it straight again (Cassander does not wish to speculate about their reasons for doing so) 58 and restore it to its old splendour. But those who took this action were hot-headed gardeners: they had no understanding of horticulture and they pulled the tree so far in the other direction that it seemed to be torn loose from its roots. A new evil presented itself that until now had not threatened the tree, when one person began to heave at one branch and another person at another, damaging the tree rather than helping it. But, all the same, it was clear that the tree needed to be helped, except that its recovery was more difficult than in the past now that two opposing parties had decided to look after it. Anyone

56 57 58

For one example among many, see Ep. 21, 1113. Ep. 5, 1086. ‘(quo id studio fecerint disputare nolo)’.

georgius cassander

147

who attempted to adopt a ‘third way’ was driven away by those two parties. Cassander concludes this entertaining comparison—in which the irenicist appears as an ambitious tree surgeon—with the sentence: ‘Haec similitudo quamvis non per omnia ut fateor, quadret, tamen ad id, quod volo, significandum satis idoneam puto’, i.e. ‘Although I must admit that this comparison does not apply in every respect, I still believe that it expresses rather well what I mean.’ Cassander compares the situation of the irenicist more than once with that of a person who intervenes between two opposing parties only to receive blows from both of them 59—a comparison that would later also be used by Hugo Grotius. Cassander recognises his own fate in that of Erasmus: ‘Although I cannot stand in the shadow of Erasmus, the same fate awaits me, so that I receive blows from both sides whenever I attempt to act as an intermediary between the two conflicting parties.’60 It is probably also Erasmus from whom Cassander derives the image of the irenicist who seeks the right course between Scylla and Charybdis: a ‘royal way’ through the centre ground where few wish to follow. Although he is entirely convinced that he is in the right—in this sense he fits in very well with the theological quibblers on both left and right—Cassander’s imagery consistently makes clear that the irenicist is a misunderstood, lonely, and rather unfortunate individual, who shuffles sadly along the untrodden, dusty path through the centre ground. In a period in which vehemence, intransigence, and a refusal to compromise were seen as badges of truth, comparisons of this kind in letters in which he expresses himself and his ideal of religious freedom did not really contribute to the success of irenical theology.

59 Ep. 26, 1118 (regarding Lindanus’s rejection of De officio pii viri): ‘Non ignorabam quidem, quod et libellus exponit, hanc esse indignissimam et deplorandam pacificatorum conditionem, ut cum se inter pugnantes medios interponant, utrinque non raro plagas accipiant, verum ab hac parte tam graves et indignas plagas non expectabam.’ 60 Ep. 72, 1170: ‘[. . .] quamvis umbram Erasmi non attingam, tamen eodem fato sum, ut cum inter partes dissidentes sequestrum aliquo modo agere, et medium me interponere cupiam, utrimque vapuler, et plagas accipiam [. . .].’

CAROLUS UTENHOVIUS (1536–1600): A TALE OF TWO CITIES Philip Ford (Cambridge) Despite leading an active and productive life, rubbing shoulders with some of the foremost humanists, public figures, and poets of the sixteenth century, the Flemish scholar and poet Charles Utenhove has been relatively neglected by critics. 1 Born in Ghent on 18 March 1536, he was brought up in a humanist family which had embraced Protestantism. His father, also called Charles, had travelled extensively as part of his education, meeting Erasmus in Basel towards the end of 1528, and subsequently studying under Bembo in Padua. Although he became an alderman of his native city of Ghent, he felt the need to leave for Paris in 1556, to avoid the close interest of the Inquisition, and after a brief return in 1557, he went into exile in Germany.2 His son was taught in Ghent by Jean Othon, a native of Bruges who also fled his homeland for Germany on religious grounds in 1557, but around 1555–1556, Charles himself followed his father’s footsteps to Basel, where he was taught by Thomas Platter and Sebastian Castellion. However, he, along with his two elder brothers, joined their father in Paris probably in the course of 1556, and Charles was soon introduced to the Morel household where, some time early in 1557, he became tutor to the four children of Jean de Morel and Antoinette de Loynes.3 The Morel house in the rue Pavée was the centre of a flourishing literary circle, which brought together some of the most progressive writers of the time: Jean Salmon Macrin, Nicolas Bourbon, George Buchanan, Jean Dorat amongst the neo-Latinists, Joachim Du 1 There is one monograph devoted to him by W. Janssen, Charles Utenhove, sa vie et son œuvre (1536–1600) (Maastricht 1939), and he features in the article by S.F. Will on the Morel family, ‘Camille de Morel: A Prodigy of the Renaissance’, in Publications of the Modern Language Association 51 (1936), 83–121. See also L. Forster, ‘Charles Utenhove and Germany’, in Daphnis 6 (1977), 81–100. 2 See Janssen, Charles Utenhove, 7–13, and P.G. Bietenholz and T.B. Deutscher (eds), Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation (Toronto-Buffalo-London 2003), 3, 362–363. 3 See Janssen, Charles Utenhove, 20, and Will, ‘Camille de Morel’, 90–91, as well as my article ‘An Early French Renaissance Salon: The Morel Household’, in Renaissance and Reformation: Renaissance et Réforme 28 (2004), 9–20.

150

philip ford

Bellay, Pierre de Ronsard, and Jean-Antoine de Baïf amongst the vernacular writers. Charles quickly settled into this stimulating environment, and appears to have been popular as a teacher with his young pupils, Isaac, Camille, Lucrèce, and Diane. They would already have learnt the rudiments of Latin from their well educated mother, 4 but Utenhovius also taught them Greek and some Hebrew, a language he himself mastered well. In what follows, however, I should like to concentrate on Utenhovius’s experiences as a Protestant in Paris between 1556 and 1562, and his sojourn in London from 1562 to 1565, as reflected in his correspondence. Although this has not been published in extenso, both Janssen and Will include elements of it in their studies, and I have myself consulted the manuscript letters in Munich and Paris. The letters I shall be considering are in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 8589. Unsurprisingly, it is not clear from the correspondence whether the Morel family was aware of Utenhovius’s religious allegiances, though it would have been odd if they were ignorant of them, and there is no doubt that some of those who frequented the Morels, notably Nicolas Bourbon and George Buchanan, got into trouble with the authorities at various times for their religious views. 5 Nevertheless, in the Paris of the 1550s, under the reign of Henri II, the young Utenhovius would have needed to be discreet. It appears, however, that he was not, at least in some aspect of his association with the family, since at some point in 1561 he was dismissed from their service. In an undated letter (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 180), he writes to Jean de Morel to ask that [. . .] quod hodie mihi non obscure innuere uisus es, de alio tuorum παιδαγωγῷ et doctiore, et meliore, et ad hanc functionem magis idoneo inuestigando cogitasti, ὅτι ἐγὼ μετὰ Σωκράτους νέους διαφθείρων ἀδικῶ,

4 See Ford, ‘An Early French Renaissance Salon’, 11, where, in a letter to Nicolas Bourbon dating from the late 1540s, Antoinette de Loynes speaks of her daily duties: ‘Deinde est habenda ratio prolis educandae liberaliter, atque instituendae’, cited from Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 233. 5 Bourbon was arrested and imprisoned in Paris in 1534, and Buchanan was put on trial by the Portuguese Inquisition in 1550 and released in 1552. On Bourbon, see Nicolas Bourbon, Nugae (Bagatelles) 1533, édition critique, introduction et traduction par S. Laigneau–Fontaine (Geneva 2008); on Buchanan, see I.D. McFarlane, Buchanan (London 1981).

carolus

utenhovius

(1536–1600 )

151

mature mihi ut indices, ut et ego mihi, quod solius Dei benignitate fretus non despero, reb[us] nostris nondum in extremam desperationem addictis, uel consulere, uel de conditione alia, uel loco habitationis saltem non incommodo prospicere, possim. [. . .] concerning what you seemed to hint to me today quite openly, that you have been thinking about searching out another tutor for your children, more learned and better than myself, and more suitable for carrying out this task, because I am a doer of evil and corrupter of the youth like Socrates, that you make it known to me quickly, so that, since, trusting in the goodness of God alone, I do not despair, and since my situation has not yet yielded to extreme despair, I may either take care of myself, or look out for another situation, or at least a not too disagreeable place to live.

The somewhat tortured syntax in this sentence betrays Utenhovius’s extreme agitation, as he pours out his thoughts to his employer. Yet this passage raises serious questions. To what precisely is he referring in the Greek phrase ‘ὅτι ἐγὼ μετὰ Σωκράτους νέους διαφθείρων ἀδικῶ’ (because I am a doer of evil and corrupter of youth like Socrates)? Despite the young man’s agitation, he is citing virtually verbatim here a phrase from Plato’s Apologia, where the philosopher summarises the charge against him as follows: ‘That Socrates is a doer of evil, and corrupter of the youth, and he does not believe in the gods of the state, and has other new divinities of his own.’ 6 Utenhovius, then, repeats virtually exactly the beginning of the charges levelled at Socrates, but it is perhaps the part that he omits, that Socrates ‘does not believe in the gods of the state, and has other new divinities of his own’, that is really at stake here. It seems likely that, somewhere in his teaching, the young tutor’s Protestant religious beliefs had had an effect on his pupils. This may relate particularly to the Morel’s son, Isaac, who disappeared in the course of this same year. We know little about this young man, who seems to have been somewhat overshadowed by his sisters, and in particular Camille, but it seems certain that he was the oldest child, probably born between 1542 and 1546. 7 We know from a letter

6 See Plato, Apology 24b–c: ‘ Σωκράτη, φησὶν, ἀδικεῖν τοὺς νέους διαφθείροντα καὶ θεοὺς οὓς ἡ πόλις νομίζει οὐ νομίζοντα, ἕτερα δὲ δαιμόνια καινά.’ 7 This would have made him between 15 and 19 years old in 1561. We know from baptismal records that Camille was born in 1547, Lucrèce in 1548 or 1549, and Diane in 1550 (see É. Dupré-Lasale, Michel de l’Hospital avant son élévation au poste de Chancelier de France, 1505–1558 , 2 vols (Paris 1875–1899). It therefore seems safe to

152

philip ford

sent by Girolamo della Rovere, Morel’s pupil, to his master that Isaac had disappeared around 10 October 1561: Monsieur. L’esperance que iay de vous revoir bien tost me feroit presque laisser partir le present Monsieur de Morette, sans vous escrire, si ce nestoit que ie ueulx bien vous dire la reception de votre letter du xe du present laquelle m’a porté quelque ennui, pour la poine en quoy ie veois que debves estre pour le tour que lon vous a ioué. Et ce neantmoins ueulx esperer qu’en entendres Dieu aidant, meilleure issue. Et pour ce que ledict Sr de Morette pourra paradvanture passer iusques en Escosse, ou mon frere [Francesco] luy tiendra compaignye, uous le pourrez charger de s’enquerir par dela de vostre filz. Lequel paraduanture ne sera de tant esloigné de uous et par ainsy ie trouue fort bon, que n’en faciez aultre plaincte a la R. iusques a ce que soyez bien asseuré de tout le faict, comme il est passé, et moy de retour, nous aduiserons par ensemble, si ne trouuez mieulx cependant, de tenir le langaige, qui sera le plus à propoz. 8

It would appear, then, that Isaac had left the family home to go to Scotland, which in 1560 had broken from Rome to embrace Calvinism. Might this be the reason for Isaac’s flight there? Moreover, it would also seem that more than one person was involved, as suggested by the phrase in Joachim Dallier’s letter to his stepfather cited in note 8, ‘si son absence est par le conseil daultruy et de ceulx que uous mescripuiez’. Utenhovius’s friend, and habitué of the Morel circle, George Buchanan, also returned to Scotland some time in the course of 1560 or 1561. Is it possible that all these events could be related, and that the young Isaac left home in search of religious freedom, with the encouragement of Utenhovius, thinking that he would find a refuge with Buchanan in Scotland?

assume that Isaac was born before Camille, as he would have been too young to leave home after this date. Jean de Morel married Antoinette de Loynes after the death of her first husband, Lubin Dallier, who died between 1540 and 1544. See Ford, ‘An Early French Renaissance Salon’, 10 and n. 6. 8 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 8589, f. 36r. The letter is dated ‘De Riuoles [Rivoli] ce xxiije d’octobre 1561’. On 22 October, Isaac’s step-brother, Joachim Dallier, also wrote to Jean de Morel from Toulon, commiserating with his step-father: ‘Ie ne vous diray pour ceste heure aultre chose Monsieur sinon que ie suis le plus marry du monde de la fortune aduenue à mon frere Isac et ne pense poinct que si son absence est par le conseil daultruy et de ceulx que uous mescripuiez qu’il sen puisse venir pardela ou si ien puis scauoir nouvelles asseurez uous Monsieur que ie trouueroy bien moyen de le vous renuoyer le plus honnestement quil me sera possible’ (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 8589, f. 50r).

carolus

utenhovius

(1536–1600 )

153

Charles, at any rate, seems to have known something about what led up to Isaac’s departure, as he writes to Morel in an undated letter: Isacum nostrum clam parentibus nescio quo aufugisse mihi a F. Rouerio narratum est. quod ego non sine summo animi dolore audiui. Abhinc bimestre accepi a quibusdam adulescentibus solitum illum apud eos gloriari se propediem in Angliam vel Scotiam profecturum ac cum cælo animum mutaturum.9 Francesco della Rovere has told me that our Isaac has run off somewhere unbeknownst to his parents. I was really sorry to hear this. Two months ago, I heard from some young men that he often bragged to them that he would shortly set off for England or Scotland, to have a change of spirits as well as climate.

Whatever his part in all this might have been, Utenhovius did lose his job as tutor to the Morel children, and in a letter after his dismissal (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 181), he reproaches Jean de Morel for the gossip which is circulating about him, and for the last letter sent to him by the Morel daughters, which has deeply wounded him. Perhaps in response to this, Camille de Morel wrote a poem to her former tutor in which she expresses the warmth of the whole family towards him: 10 Ac ne forte tui dicas nos esse laboris Immemores, nostram nunc age adito domum. Gratus eris cunctis certum est, manadataque fient Omnibus ut tibi sit semper aperta domus. And lest by chance you claim we are forgetful of your efforts, just draw near to our home now. It is certain that you will be welcome to everyone, and orders will be given to all the servants that our house should always be open to you.

She seems to be addressing directly Charles’s accusations here—had the servants refused him entry at some point? —and was perhaps responsible for smoothing over the problems. What is certain is that she stayed in contact with him throughout his lifetime, and she herself ultimately turned to Protestantism.

Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 261v. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 262, cited in Will, ‘Camille de Morel’, 101, and P. Ford, ‘Camille de Morel: Female Erudition in the French Renaissance’, in G. Ferguson and C. Hampton (eds), (Re)Inventing the Past: Essays in Honour of Ann Moss (Durham 2003), 245–259 (esp. 251–252). 9

10

154

philip ford

Charles was clearly a highly gifted young man, if a bit of a dilettante. It is no doubt his intellectual qualities, along with the fact that he was not a native Frenchman, that excused his heterodox religious views, which must have been to some extent in the public domain. However, the absence of a suitable teaching post after his departure from the Morel household appears to have led to his leaving France for England in the first part of 1562, where his uncle, Jean Utenhove, was one of the founding members of the Belgian reformed Church in London. Following the accession to the throne of Elizabeth I in 1558, England too was now a Protestant country again, and Charles must have felt more at home there from the religious point of view. His uncle, who had many connections at court, introduced the young man to a number of well connected people, including the French ambassador in London, Paul de Foix (1528–1584), whose previous tour of duty had been in Scotland (1561). Utenhovius wrote an excited letter to Jean de Morel on 1 May 1562 (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 263r), conveying some of his experiences at the English court. He was present on Maundy Thursday, when the Queen washed the feet of 27 pauper women, 11 and he appears to have been impressed by Elizabeth’s erudition: ‘latine loquentem non sine admiratione audiuisse, quod et verbis et phrasibus lectissimis uteretur’ (I was very impressed hearing her speaking Latin, since she used the choicest vocabulary and diction). The letter ends, somewhat tantalisingly for Morel, with some veiled allusions to his son Isaac: Quid de Isaco nostro acceperis aueo cognoscere. Non audeo ad te rumores de eo ab incertis isthic auctoribus sparsos, licet auspicatos scribere. Deus Opt. Max. illi totique familiae tuae adesse dignetur. I long to know what you have heard about our Isaac. I dare not write to you about the rumours which have been spread about him here by persons unknown, though they bode well. May God be with him and all your family.

Charles appears to have enjoyed his time in London, though he returned to Paris later in 1562, no doubt to continue his education, which he had already said he had somewhat neglected when he

11 A form of this ceremony still exists in England. In 1562, Easter Sunday fell on 29 March, so Maundy Thursday would have been on 26 March.

carolus

utenhovius

(1536–1600 )

155

was in the service of the Morel family. 12 He seems to have become tutor around this time to Francesco della Rovere, Girolamo’s brother. But the allure of London proved too strong, and when he was approached by Paul de Foix to return there as his secretary, he accepted with alacrity: Postridie venit ad me Balduinus cum Regio Oratore [ in. marg.: P. Foxio] qui hodie in Angliam legationis nescio cuius obeundae gratia ablegatur, num et me sibi comitem adiungere vellem, ex me quaerens, conditionem amplissimam et honorificissimam pollicitus. Ego vero ac libens inquam. Heri cum eo caenaui deque profectione arripienda inter nos conuenit. Ille tibi salutem plurimam tuisque fausta omnia precatur. 13 The following day [François] Baudouin came to me with the King’s ambassador [Paul de Foix] who is being sent off to England today to carry out some legation or other, asking me whether I should like to accompany him, and offering the most splendid and honourable terms. ‘Most willingly’, I said. I had dinner with him yesterday, and we agreed on making due haste with our departure. He sends you his best wishes and wishes your family the best of luck.

Clearly, Utenhovius had made an impression on Paul de Foix during his time in London. The letter to Morel is dated 2 November 1562. At this point, there is still no news of Isaac, and much of the letter is about him. Indeed, it begins: F. Roverius vester, et idem meus mihi narrauit te ex se quaesisse, numquid de Isaco nostro certi compertique haberem, quibusue in locis delitesceret scirem; molesteque ferre quod nihildum de eo, ex quo discessit vel literis vel sermone aliorum ad vos esset allatum. Optassem equidem iamdudum et hac et aliis in reb[us] tibi tuisque gratificandi occasionem dare. Your good friend Francesco della Rovere, and mine too, told me you had enquired of him whether I had any definite, authoritative news about our Isaac or knew where he was hiding. He said you were annoyed that you had as yet received nothing about him since he left, either by mail or through other people’s reports. I would long since have liked to offer

12 However, it is clear that he studied Greek with Jean Dorat, probably at the Collège royal, as well perhaps as being a private pupil of the great humanist. In an ode addressed to Camille de Morel, dating according to Geneviève Demerson from around 1560, Dorat wrote: ‘Nam Carolus te qui docet, is mihi / Praesens docetur’ (‘For Charles, your tutor, is taught in person by me’). See Jean Dorat, Les Odes latines, texte présenté, établi, traduit, annoté par G. Demerson (Clermont-Ferrand: Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines de l’Université de Clermond-Ferrand II, 1979), 180–181, and notes, pp. 341–344. 13 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 8589, f. 3r.

156

philip ford you and your family the opportunity of obliging you in this and other matters.

But he goes on to explain that, apart from his teachers, Adrien Turnèbe, Jean Dorat, and François Baudouin, he has not seen anybody of late. He does, however, assure Morel that he had a dream recently which persuaded him that Isaac would soon return home, and he ends his letter as follows: Incertus sum enim an vnquam in Galliam sim rediturus. Ultimo valedicto complector, deque me omnia, quae a me in te tuosque proficisci possunt pollicitor. Non fallam opinionem tuam. Non redibo ex Scotia si omnino vis nisi filium vna adducam tuum. I am not sure whether I shall ever return to France. I embrace you in a final farewell, and promise you will have from me everything which may spring forth from me for you and your family. I will not disappoint you. I will not return from Scotland, if you absolutely wish it, without bringing your son with me.

The mystery deepens. Did Charles have more definite information about the whereabouts of Isaac than he was letting on? If he did, it appears to have come to nothing, since Isaac does not make a reappearance, and the next time we have information about Charles, he is writing in triumph from England on 26 July 1564: Incredibile dictu est quantus honorum cumulus mihi accesserit ex quo pax vtrinque coiit: quam comiter a Regina, quam amice a praecipuis huius regni proceribus exceptus fuerim. 14 It is incredible to relate the extent to which I have had honours heaped upon me since peace was concluded between the two countries—how courteously I have been welcomed by the Queen, and how kindly by the leading figures in this realm.

No doubt part of his success was due to his literary and linguistic skills in Greek, but he was also successful in charming his way into the foremost families of England, notably that of William Cecil, the principal architect of Elizabeth’s policies, with whom she had been in contact even before her accession to the throne. In this same letter to Morel, Utenhovius refers to a public lecture he gave:

14

Munich. Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 260r.

carolus

utenhovius

(1536–1600 )

157

Quid in graecis literis praestare queam, nuper dum clariss[imae] faeminae Mildredae Ceciliae Clariss[imi] viri D[omini] Gul[ielmi] Cecilii coniugis Thucydidem graece praelegerem, patre illius D[omino] Antonio Cooko, reliquisque quos Anglia habet eruditionis fama celebres praesentibus, satis superque me ostendisse puto. Recently, when I gave a lecture in Greek on Thucydides to the most renowned lady Mildred Cecil, wife of the most renowned Sir William Cecil, in the presence of her father, Sir Anthony Cooke, and the remainder of England’s humanist elite, I think I showed more than enough my excellence in Greek literature.

He goes on to suggest that it would be a good idea for Camille to enter into a Greek or Latin correspondence with Mildred, since the result would be of great interest. This proposal seems to have come to nothing, though it is possible that Utenhovius was successful in arranging something similar between Camille and Jeanne, the daughter of his former teacher, Jean Othon. The Munich correspondence contains a letter from Jeanne to Camille, f. 279, as well as a poem ‘Ad Camillam Morellam genere, pietate et literis Latinis et Graecis nobilem virginem. Iana Iani Othonis filia’ (f. 250r–251r).15 Charles’s period in England came to end in 1565. His employer, Paul de Foix, was unexpectedly sent to Spain, as Utenhove explains in a letter to Adrien Turnèbe dated 31 October 1564 (Munich, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 185r–186v). The main purpose of the letter is to seek a replacement for himself, as he has decided ‘certis de causis’ not to accompany the ambassador. Perhaps he felt that the religious climate of Spain would not have been very welcoming, and that in navigating the seas of European religious dissent, certain risks were not worth taking. In fact, when he leaves England the following year, it is to Germany, via Friesland, that he travels. 15 The letter is largely reproduced in Will, ‘Camille de Morel’, 103–104. The poem, in elegiac couplets, not reproduced in Will, begins: Ore mihi vultuque licet non nota Camilla, attamen ex doctor carmine nota mihi es, quod mihi Pieridum vates Phoebique sacerdos, Carolus Utenhovus, sympatriota dedit. Ille, mei columen, decus et pia cura parentis, haec mittenda suae carmina duxit herae. (Although you are unknown to me, Camille, in face and appearance, yet you are known to me as a teacher through your poem, given to me by my fellow countryman, Charles Utenhove, the prophet of the Muses and priest of Apollo. He, my father’s support, glory and beloved pupil, thought that these poems should be sent to his mistress.)

158

philip ford

* ** Utenhovius’s experiences as a Protestant in Paris and London, and the rhetorical precautions he takes, are interesting. There are no overt references to the question of religion in his letters, not even to the turbulent events which were taking place during his time in Paris. The following table gives an idea of what was happening at this crucial period of French history. 1557 1561 Oct. 1561 early 1562

mid 1562

Nov. 1562

early 1565

Charles becomes Morel family tutor Charles dismissed 31 July 1561 Disappearance of Isaac de Morel 17 Jan. 1562 Charles leaves 1 March 1562 for London 30 March 1562

Charles returns to Paris Charles returns to London

Charles leaves London

Colloque de Poissy Edict of Toleration Massacre of Wassy First Religious War: Protestants take Tours, Orléans, Rouen

26 October 1562 King recaptures Rouen 19 Dec. 1562 18 Feb. 1563 19 March 1563

Battle of Dreux François de Guise killed Edict of Amboise

Charles may not have mentioned any of these events, but he was surely influenced by them. In particular, one wonders whether the Massacre of Wassy, and the civil war which it provoked, had anything to do with his departure for London in early 1562. Nevertheless, discretion does appear to dictate that nothing be said concerning current affairs. Instead, his letters are concerned with scholarly matters, and with more than a small degree of self-justification and self-advertisement in the wake of his dismissal. After the initial shock, there comes a period of histrionics, when he is threatening suicide, 16 but this is succeeded by

16

Cf. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 181r.

carolus

utenhovius

(1536–1600 )

159

a more confident tone in later letters, especially after his meeting with Paul de Foix, and his success at the English court. Moreover, the letter to Adrien Turnèbe affirms that there is a shortage of erudite young men in England at this time—‘Habes enim isthic eruditorum iuuenum copiam, quorum maxime hîc laboramus penuria’ (For you have there an abundance of well educated young men, while here we suffer badly from a dearth of them)—so that Charles’s talents must have appeared all the more remarkable. On a practical level, Charles, not surprisingly, seeks out those who may be sympathetic to his own religious views. No doubt it was his father who had found his teaching post with the Morels for him, and the various connections with Erasmus of Charles Senior and Jean de Morel would have provided the oil with which to lubricate these relationships. But his new patron Paul de Foix, who was only eight years older than Charles, was also known at the time for his religious tolerance and sympathy for the Reformed Church, which partly explains his success as an ambassador in England, as well as the sympathy which he felt for his amanuensis. 17 But it is also the style of writing which Utenhovius adopts, undoubtedly closely linked to his personality, which explains his success in negotiating the two contrasting societies of sixteenth-century Paris and London. What is striking about his letters in the first place is their exuberance. They are generally quite long, full of detail, and written in a language which reflects, on the one hand, a colloquial use of Latin, but which on the other hand contains more formal elements—he addresses Jean de Morel, for example, as ‘patris mihi loco colende’ (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 261r), and sprinkles his Latin with Greek phrases and sentences. The topics he deals with are in no particular order, and suggest the spontaneity of conversation, yet at the same time, he is careful to offer a certain controlled level of flattery to his addressees: in writing to Adrien Turnèbe, for example, he tells the humanist ‘Aduersariorum tuorum, vna nocte, libros, cultos, Iuppiter, et laboriosos, perlegi tanta cum voluptate et fructu, vt nihil me in eo genere quicquam perfectius vnquam legisse, deierare non dubito’ (I read the elegant, by Jove, and scholarly books

17 On Paul de Foix and religious tolerance see the article of M. Smith, ‘Paul de Foix and Freedom of Conscience’, in Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 55 (1993), 301–315, which includes an edition of the Frenchman’s tract on the subject.

160

philip ford

of your Adversaria in a single night, with so much pleasure and benefit that I do not hesitate to swear that I have never read anything more accomplished in this style of writing). 18 There is no quicker way to an academic’s heart than a good book review. Above all, he presents himself as youthful, despite the fact that, in the letter reporting his success in London with the Cecil family, for example, he is already 28 years old, and this youthful enthusiasm was clearly quite disarming. His strategy for dealing with life appears to have worked. In later life, he maintained good relationships with many of the people he knew at this crucial period of his career: Protestants, such as George Buchanan and Sir William Cecil, Catholics, such as Jean Dorat and Pierre de Ronsard. Perhaps too he managed, unlike some of his contemporaries, to avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a lesson he may have learnt from both his father and his first teacher, Jean Othon. His navigation skills seem not to have let him down.

18

Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 10383, f. 185v.

ANDREAS DUDITH (1533–1589): CONFLICTS AND STRATEGIES OF A RELIGIOUS INDIVIDUALIST IN CONFESSIONALISING EUROPE Gábor Almási (Budapest) In 1583 the rediscovery of a supposed Ciceronian oration, the Consolatio, created a wave of excitement in all areas of the humanist Republic of Letters. Few literati were left out of the debate, and the opinion of Andreas Dudith Sbardellatus was also requested by several of his friends.1 His reply to a Prague-based Italian doctor was a declaration about the type of culture (and the type of scholarly milieu) he would identify with. As for the booklet of the Consolatio, Mr [Giovanni Michele] Bruto also wrote to me a few days ago. But who am I to be able or be obliged to join the host of worthy and weighty censors? I have never passed so much time in these studies to be able to write anything that could merit praise, nor have I ever aimed to make a name in this field. Since the time I studied in Paris, which was almost 30 years ago, and later in Italy much longer, I have realised that it was much better dealing with things than with words or linguistic ornaments, and I turned towards the study of more solid things, which I have always attended to with as much passion as my court offices and legations permitted me, and even if I gained, through my studies, some savoir-faire in it (as they say), I can assure you that by now I have become completely useless, since for many years I have never or only rarely taken in hand similar authors. I am so much in love with philosophy, and with your medicine, and with theology—and I think mainly of the kind of philosophy and theology that is called scholastic (which way of writing refines the intellect and arms the tongue)—that I do not even have the desire—if not by occasion—to deal with other books, and if I sometimes do so, it is because of some mathematical books, in order to introduce my son to this fine and well-organised science. 2

1 Cicero [i.e. pseudo-Cicero], Consolatio (Venice 1583). On the debate see W. McCuaig, Carlo Sigonio. The Changing World of Late Renaissance (Princeton 1989), 303–346. The echo of the publication was huge; probably several hundreds of letters were written on the subject. 2 ‘Quanto al libretto de Consolatione, me ne scrisse alquanti dì sono anco il Sig. Bruto; ma chi son’io che possi, o debba, entrare nella schiera dei lodati et gravi censori?

162

gábor almási

This confession of an exceptional northern humanist sounds rather antihumanist in as much as it turns against a philologically oriented Italian type of scholarship, in which, by the end of the sixteenth century, the major theological, social and philosophical problems were sublimated and rarely dealt with directly in writing any more. Andreas Dudith, however, did tackle some of the main issues of his times, and for a long while he was also not averse to public attention. He paid a price for the liberty of doing so, and indeed he praised that very liberty highly. Andreas Dudith was par excellence a Central European figure: born in Buda, he was the son of an Italian mother and a Croatian father. 3 While his father was a landless noble who died early in a battle against the Turks, his uncle Augustinus Sbardellatus was a powerful and erudite bishop in Hungary. Andreas Dudith published relatively little but, in his letters, discoursed on a wide range of sciences (theology, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, etc.). 4 Among his correspondents one Non passai in questi studii mai innanzi tanto, ch’io potessi scriver cosa, che meritasse lode, né mi curai d’acquistarmi in ciò nome alcuno. Per ciò cominciando a conoscer sin dal tempo ch’io studiai in Parigi, che sono poco men di 30 anni, et poi in Italia molto più, che molto meglio era d’attendere alle cose, che alle parole et ornamenti del dire, mi voltai allo studio di cose più sode, alle quali, sempre che li negotii di corte et legazioni me l’hanno permesso, ho atteso con mio gran gusto, et se pur per li studii miei giovanili ne restai un poco infarinato, come si suol dire, le prometto ch’hora ne sono del tutto netto, perciocché da molti anni in qua non piglio simili scrittori in mano, se non di rado, essendomi tanto innamorato della filosophia et della vostra medicina et di teologia et questa poi come quella per lo più scolastica, come ella vien chiamata (la quale maniera di scriver affina l’intelletto et ingrossa la lingue) che non mi vien né anco voglia se non a caso di maneggiar altri libri, se non fosse alle volte per diporto qualche libro matematico per introdurre mio figlio a questa bella et ben ordinata scienza’ (Letter to Giacopo Scutellari of 20 December 1583, published by McCuaig, Carlo Sigonio, 339). 3 Andreas Dudith’s surviving correspondence of more than 1,300 items has been almost fully edited in a Polish-Hungarian collaboration. Andreas Dudithius, Epistolae 1 (1554–1567) (Budapest 1992); 2 (1568–1573) (Budapest 1995); 3 (1574) (Budapest 2000); 4 (1575) (Budapest 1998); 5 (1576) (Budapest 2005); 6 (1577–1580) (Budapest 2002). I wish to thank the chief editors Lech Szczucki and Tibor Szepessy for letting me consult the unpublished letters of the seventh and last volume. 4 The most exhaustive biography on Dudith is still Pierre Costil’s monograph: P. Costil, André Dudith. Humaniste hongrois. 1533–1589. Sa vie, son oeuvre et ses manuscrits grecs (Paris 1935), which gives a comprehensive list of Dudith’s publications. For a recent interpretation see my book, The Uses of Humanism. Johannes Sambucus (1531–1584), Andreas Dudith (1533–1589), and the Republic of Letters in East Central Europe (Leiden 2009), 69–77, 239–364. An informative study on his religious thinking is D. Caccamo, Eretici italiani in Moravia, Polonia, Transilvania (1558–1611). Studi e documenti (Firenze-Chicago 1970), 109–131; see also L. Szczucki, ‘Some Remarks on Andrew Dudith’s Mental World’, in M. Balázs (ed.), György Enyedi and Central

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

163

Fig. 7. Andreas Dudith, Letter to Justus Lipsius (1 March 1587). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 4 (D)

164

gábor almási

finds the most distinguished figures of sixteenth-century humanism, such as Justus Lipsius, Abraham Ortelius, Henry and Thomas Savile, Robert Sidney, Joachim Camerarius (senior and junior), Johannes Sturm, Theodore Zwinger, Theodore Beza, Hieronymus Wolf, Henricus Stephanus, Adrian Turnèbe, Jean Dorat, Joachim Périon, Petrus Ramus, Paulus Manutius, Marcus Antonius Muretus, Gianvincenzo Pinelli, Johannes Crato von Krafftheim, Thomas Erastus, Johannes Praetorius, Hubertus Languetus, Jean Matal and many others. As a young man Dudith studied in Padua and Paris for ten years, soon becoming famous as a humanist prodigy much appreciated and inἀuenced by the circle of Paulus Manutius. His talents in the studia humanitatis became the subject of a legend that claimed he copied Cicero’s oeuvre three times in his own hand. 5 His ability as a linguist was demonstrated by his translation of Dionysius Halicarnassus into Latin.6 During his academic peregrinations, he lived for almost two years in the household of Cardinal Reginald Pole, an illustrious representative of the Italian Catholic Reformation movement. Having concluded his academic wanderings, Dudith, a well-connected virtuoso, was made a bishop in Hungary in order to present the reform ideas of Emperor Ferdinand I at the Council of Trent. His five orations in Trent made him famous, but because of their heavy, open criticism of the Church they also gained him enemies in Rome. Despite his successes, he left the Council obviously disappointed, and soon departed for Poland as an imperial envoy, using his ecclesiastical office to advance his diplomatic career. The correspondence from these years contains almost no letters written to members of the Respublica litteraria. However, the Polish mission did not fulfil Dudith’s high expectations of a political career but, on the contrary, cut him off from the centre of political activity. Eventually, four years after Trent, in 1567, he caused a great scandal by leaving the Catholic Church to marry a Polish woman in secret. Emperor Maximilian II was deeply disappointed, and consequently, Dudith found himself in a political vacuum, which ended European Unitarianism in the 16–17th centuries (Budapest 2000), 347–354. For more bibliographical details, see J. Jankovics and I. Monok, Dudith András könyvtára. The Library of Andreas Dudith (Szeged 1993), 204–207, and J. Tedeschi, The Italian Reformation of the Sixteenth Century and the Diffusion of Renaissance Culture. A Bibliography of the Secondary Literature (Modena 2000), 264–269. 5 J.A. Thuanus, Historia mei temporis (Rovière 1620), lib. 96, 478. The information goes back to Henry Savile (see Costil, André Dudith, 77, n. 1). 6 Dionysius Halicarnassus, De Thucydidis Historia iudicium (Venice 1560).

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

165

only five years later. During the Polish interregnum (1572–1576) he managed to make himself useful again; he was politically rehabilitated, and was finally able to enjoy an otium cum dignitate for the last twelve years of his life, first in Moravia and later in Silesia. The still very inἀuential posthumous persona of Andreas Dudith was created by a Protestant German theologian, Quirinus Reuter, a follower of Zacharias Ursinus. 7 Reuter lived in the area of Heidelberg except for the two years he spent in Breslau, the present Wrocław, in Dudith’s company, as tutor to the latter’s sons. His pedagogical and pastoral career, his prospects and opportunities were severely limited by the powerful Kirchenrat and the confessionalising politics of the Electors of the Electoral Palatinate. Twenty-one years after Dudith’s death and close to his own, Reuter decided to memorialise his former patron: he prepared a short biography, and republished the orations held in Trent and some of Dudith’s apologetic writings regarding his marriage.8 However, he not only wished to erect a monument to Dudith’s reform activities, but apparently also intended to sustain the Reformation’s case in more general terms as well. For this reason, the texts concerning Dudith were followed by a great number of other documents regarding the failed reform attempts at the Council of Trent. Reuter’s goal was to show that the decrees of Trent, which were increasingly observed in his day, only partially embodied the position of mid-sixteenth-century Catholicism and, therefore, that Trent contributed in great measure to the division of Europe. In this context, one of Reuter’s main arguments became the life of Dudith himself, an authentic person, whose deeds profoundly represented his beliefs. Dudith’s break with the Catholic Church and his marriage were, for Reuter, a pious act, and an appropriate reaction to the failures of Trent. Dudith—he claimed in the vita—started seeing the light of the Gospels already in Trent, as was clear from his oration on the Eucharist. However, his enlightenment was manifested ultimately in his marriage, when ‘from the Antichristians’ fortress he had come over to those churches which profess Christ’s name without sham or deceit.’ 9 7 On Reuter see M. Adam, Vitae Germanorum Theologorum qui superiori seculo Ecclesiam Christi . . . propagarunt(Frankfurt am Main 1620), 820–827. 8 Q. Reuter, Andreae Dudithii de Horehowiza quondam episcopi Quinque-ecclesiensis [. . .] orationes (Offenbach 1610), f. b. 9 ‘Cracoviaeque sedem fixit: atque testatus est, se ex Antichristianorum castris ad Ecclesias eas transisse, quae Christi nomen sine fuco et fallaciis profitentur.’ Reuter, Andreae Dudithii, f. b4r.

166

gábor almási

It is not by chance that Reuter used the plural here: ad Ecclesias eas . On the one hand, he preferred to avoid the delicate subject of identifying Dudith’s later denomination, while on the other hand, grouping all Reformed Churches together fitted well with the irenic, anti-Catholic message of the work. 10 As we will see, this kind of appropriation of the figure of Andreas Dudith was something the Hungarian humanist had to experience again and again. Still, Reuter’s biography in general would have most probably pleased him, had he lived to see it. After all, it reflected quite faithfully the image he had created of himself in his correspondence and other writings. 11 This image suggested that his ideas on the right kind of Christian life, his convinced defence of religious moderation and his identification with the world of learning were the principal factors determining the turns of his career. What Dudith would have disliked was Reuter’s anti-Catholic, confessional approach, however moderate it was. He would certainly not have been happy about his biographer’s description of his gradual religious enlightenment, either. Finally, the scope of Reuter’s irenicism must have been decidedly too narrow for a person who came from a Catholic background with contacts in ‘both parts’ of the Republic of Letters, and who never stopped thinking in universal Christian terms. A notable illustration of their differing perspectives is given in one of Dudith’s letters addressed to Reuter more than a year after the former private tutor returned to Neustadt in the Palatinate: I crave to know why you prefer to leave for Geneva and why not for another place in order to study. Who else is there apart from [Theodore] Beza? Furthermore, great numbers of his writings have already been published, and his opinions on all the controversies can fully be learnt from them. I would prefer you go to places that can add to your

This kind of early seventeenth-century German irenicism, which was rooted in anti-Catholicism, is reἀected also in the works of Reuter’s younger contemporary and biographer Melchior Adam. See J.M. Weiss, ‘The Harvest of German Humanism. Melchior Adam’s Collective Biographies as Cultural History’, in M.P. Fleischer (ed.), The Harvest of Humanism in Central Europe: Essays in Honor of Lewis W. Spitz (St Louis 1992), 341–350. See more in H. Hotson, ‘Irenism in the Confessional Age. The Holy Roman Empire, 1563–1648’, in H.P. Louthan and R.C. Zachman (eds), Conciliation and Confession: the Struggle for Unity in the Age of Reform, 1415–1648 (Notre Dame 2004), 228–267. 11 In particular, I refer to a manuscript dialogue meant to justify his marriage in the Republic of Letters, which Reuter published with some modifications in the same work. 10

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

167

learning and sharpen your mind. If I were you, I would go to Paris to listen to the professors of the Sorbonne and to the Jesuits. I am not joking. There are often distinguished men and outstanding philosophers tucked away in such groups of people, and in the orders of the Dominicans and the Franciscans. Engaging them in debate is a most fruitful exercise to sharpen your mind. All great and famous philosophers and theologians in our age and in earlier times who have attracted the attention of all by fighting against adversaries with writings and elegant and solid learning, all these people have come from the above-mentioned palaestra. 12

Of course, for the sake of discussion Dudith allowed himself a provocative exhortation here, as he did on many other occasions. Praising the Jesuits was taboo, and Dudith, in fact, was no less worried about their growing power than others were. He must have also been well aware of the fact that, had Reuter followed his advice, he might have run into a series of difficulties like the necessity of permission from Prince Johann Kasimir, or the high costs of a Parisian sojourn. 13 Yet, these words expressed his unceasing irritation at the narrowing mental worlds of a confessionalising Europe. The increasingly conspicuous shortcomings of a confessionalised Christian existence were at the core of the communication between Dudith and the aforementioned great Calvinist authority of the day, Theodore Beza. Their correspondence—already widely read during their lives—covers the times when religious thinking and behaviour became key problems for Dudith. 14 In the following analysis of these 12 ‘Cur Genevam, non autem alio malis studiorum causa proficisci, ex te discere aveo. Quis ibi est praeter Bezam? Et huius quoque scripta iam sunt multa pervulgata, ex quibus sententia eius de omni controversia plene intelligi potest. Mallem te in ea loca conferres, quae te augere doctrina possint et acumine. Ego si tuo loco essem, Lutetiam ad audiendum Sorbonistas et Iesuitas abirem. Non iocor, magni saepe viri et φιλόσoφoι eximii in hoc hominum genere et in illo Dominicanorum et Franciscanorum sodalitio delitescunt, cum quibus conferre disputationibusque animum acuere φιλόσoφoι et fructuosissimum est. Qui magni et celebres nostra et superiore aetate theologi fuerunt atque omnium in se ora converterunt, scriptisque eleganti ac solida doctrina contra adversarios dimicaverunt, ex illorum, quos dixi, palaestra prodierunt.’ (28 October 1583; Esztergom, Főszékesegyházi Könyvtár [FSzK], Cat. V Tit. IV/d, p. 111). 13 The councillors of Elector Johann Kasimir (the founder of the Casimirianum) had given him permission to stay with Dudith, and he was also the one who called the scholar back to the Palatinate. Adam, Vitae Germanorum, 822. 14 Most importantly, three sixteenth-century publications appeared, containing their important letter-treatises, under the pseudonym of Minus Celsis: De Haereticis coercendis quatenus progredi liceat (Basel 1577); De Haereticis Capitali supplicio non adficiendis (Basel 1584); An ecclesiae nomen soli reformatae conveniat (Heidelberg 1593).

168

gábor almási

letters I will focus on two issues: the nature of Dudith’s plea for individual religious freedom and the essence of his growing scepticism. When Dudith first contacted Beza, a year had already passed since his marriage. His first son, named after Emperor Maximilian II, had just been born, but apart from the pleasures of family life there was not much to be happy about. Although Dudith eventually succeeded in having the emperor pay him a small pension, he was not allowed to return to his native Hungary, nor was there an apparent need for his services in Poland. After long months spent as an exile in the country, Dudith moved back to Cracow but he remained isolated. 15 The high social esteem he once enjoyed as a bishop and an imperial legate was no more. The Pope initiated a lawsuit against him and demanded that he be sent to Rome, which was fortunately denied by the Polish King Zygmunt August (Sigismund II Augustus). However, as a result of the suit, Dudith was finally excommunicated, sentenced to death, and his image was publicly burnt in Rome. 16 His former Catholic colleagues and friends, including almost all his Italian friends, turned away from him.17 At the same time, he became a much sought-after and respected figure among the adherents of all the Reformed confessions. Only a few months after his marriage, the Polish bishop and vice-chancellor Piotr Myszkowski reported that people wanted to use his talents for their own religious goals and encouraged him to take further steps against the Catholic Church. The new Reformed interest in Dudith not only came from the Calvinists, Lutherans and Arians, that is, Antitrinitarians (the later Unitarians and Socinians), but there were also a few Catholics who tried to win back his soul. 18

15 Although Dudith expected to experience isolation, neither he nor his bishopcolleagues thought it would last for so long and that it would be so intense. See Antonius Verantius, Opera 9 (1563–1569), L. Szalay and G. Wenzel (eds), Monumenta Hungariae Historica, Scriptores 20 (Pest 1870), 262. 16 The exact dates are uncertain. Evidently, there was already a definite verdict against Dudith on 6 February 1568, but its content is not clear. The information is based on a summary of the documents in the Corsini Library (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome): Decreta Consistoriala 40. G. 12, fol. 88, G. 16, fol. 145. See F. Kollányi, ‘Regesták a római és pármai levéltárakból’, in Történelmi Tár 6 (1905), 370. 17 Paulus Manutius, for example, deleted his name from the forthcoming editions of his Epistolae and also composed a backdated letter that foresaw the changes in Dudith’s attitude. See Almási, The Uses of Humanism , 288–289. See also Antonius Verantius’s letter to Dudith of 3 September 1571 (Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 281–282). 18 For Catholic attempts to win Dudith back, see Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 116–119 (15 July 1569), and 116, n. 2.

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

169

Dudith first approached Beza by referring to their common humanist culture.19 He praised Beza’s talents highly and encouraged him to ignore the criticism of his enemies, who condemned some of his early poems because of their sexual content. Since this letter remained unanswered he came up with a witty, thought-provoking piece. In this second letter, Dudith, who had once fought so fiercely in Trent for permission for Catholics to partake of the chalice, claimed to be abstemious and that any contact with wine caused him to suffer serious physical symptoms. ‘Quid faciam?’, he asked Beza. ‘If I stay away from the Lord’s Table I neither sufficiently carry out the duty of a Christian man nor do I satisfy myself, and I offend the brothers who want me 20 On to share this common token of Christian soldiers with them.’ the other hand, he added, if he had only the half of the Lord’s Supper he would give the impression he was relapsing into Catholicism and going against the teaching of Holy Writ. To match Dudith’s verbal approach, Beza sent him a copy of his Poemata. He congratulated him on his marriage and also congratulated the church that Dudith was going to join. Concerning the apostate bishop’s provocation, Beza preferred to make himself clear. Nothing could be worse, he declared, than to decide for oneself not to receive the Eucharist under both kinds. 21 He claimed Dudith had started the fight against Satan, and had joined Christ’s fortress, so he should behave accordingly. I would like you to ponder this: that the most innocent Christian man is the simplest one. It follows that it is a most harmful natural disposition to be meddlesome and impious. Such people are not satisfied by the publicly acknowledged confession of the orthodox churches, but invent

19 The first letter Dudith wrote to Beza in 1568 is lost, but it can be easily reconstructed from Beza’s reply to the second one. Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 67–70 (1 September 1568). 20 ‘A mensa Domini si abstineo, neque satis officio Christiani viri fungor neque mihi satisfacio et fratres, qui hanc mihi Christianae militiae tesseram communem esse secum vellent, offendo.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 56 (18 April 1568). 21 In any case, Beza could easily check with the messenger whether Dudith was indeed abstemious. More than ten years later Dudith used the same question to test the humanist teacher Esrom Rüdinger from the Bohemian Brethren, but he raised it in a general way (referring to any abstemious person): Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 219 (21 May 1579). In the same letter (which was addressed to his good friend, the erudite doctor Thomas Jordan in Brno), he also claimed to be abstemious while he speculated about the qualities of good water, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of boiling water (p. 220).

170

gábor almási new and strange ideas and thus keep bothering themselves and others with the false pretext of being in search of the truth [. . .].22

The same year, Beza dedicated the second edition of his poems to Dudith, including the licentious pieces, as the latter had suggested. 23 This gesture signalled clearly the place Beza envisaged for Dudith on the Polish Protestant scene. In return, the apostate bishop had to tolerate the fact that his image was used for Calvinist causes. Beza spelled out in the preface of his work how Dudith, with God’s help, finally trod on the path to salvation and joined the real Church. His marriage revealed he was a man of integrity, who was not corrupted by career prospects, by the evil spirit of the Council of Trent, or by superstitious celibacy.24 The dedicating words of the preface were in the same vein: ‘[. . .] domino Andreae Duditio, dudum quidem Hungarici pseudocleri in Tridentino conciliabulo oratori, nunc vero fido Iesu Christi servo.’25 It was, however, not only Beza who wanted to win Dudith over to the Protestant cause, but also the Zurich-based Calvinist theologians Josias Simmler and Johann Wolf. 26 Two years had passed since his marriage and Dudith had had enough of being in the crossfire of Catholic and Protestant theologians. His first attack against the arrogance of Reformed confessions was a letter written in reply to Wolf:

22 ‘Velim autem et illud cogites: eum esse purissimum Christianismum, qui sit quam simplicissimus, ac proinde nulla esse magis noxia ingenia quam curiosa illa et profana, quae publica testataque ecclesiarum orthodoxarum confessione non contenta novas sibi et peregrinas opiniones fabricare et se ipsos aliosque turbare inquirendae veritatis studium falso praetexentes non desinunt, quos egregie passim apostolus, imprimis autem altera ad Timotheum epistula depingit.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 69 (1 September 1568). Beza, however, expressed his opinion about abstinence on a separate sheet of paper, which he most probably attached to the same letter (Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 77–78, s.d.). This procedure reflects that he acknowledged abstinence as a theoretical problem, and did not consider it to be Dudith’s particular problem. Referring to Calvin, he stated that if wine were replaced with water or other liquids, it would represent Christ’s blood just as much as wine. 23 Theodori Bezae Vezelii Poematum, editio secunda ab eo recognita (Geneva 1569); Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 90–101 (14 May 1569); see also 90, n. 1. 24 Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 100. 25 ‘To Andreas Dudith, once an orator of the Hungarian pseudoclergy in the little council of Trent, now a true, faithful servant of Jesus Christ.’ 26 Their letters have been lost, but a short account of Wolf’s letter has survived: Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 104, n. 5, and 115. On their relationship with Eastern European religious movements, see M. Taplin, The Italian Reformers and the Zurich Church, 1540–1620 (Aldershot 2003), 170–214.

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

171

As you have said, I have walked out of the fortress of the Catholic Church with great determination. However, I do not want to conceal, my Wolf, that among all unfavourable things nothing so bad can happen to me that could equal the pain that strikes me whenever I think of how numerous, how pugnacious, how hostile are the churches both in this kingdom and elsewhere, churches that nevertheless want to be called and considered Reformed. You also touched upon it in your letters. Nevertheless, what offends and torments me is something that seems to lend power and strength to your faith. 27

Unless God separated light from darkness, Dudith went on, religion would lapse into such confusion that there would be no reason to go on living.28 Among so many contradictory religious opinions where else should people turn, where is a firm, constant opinion to be found, he asked.29 There were only ‘hostile discrepancies’ regarding the truth, although ‘the truth cannot be manifold and needs to be based on a single column and foundation.’ In all the disagreements where can one find the one true church? 30 In the end, one may prefer to remain in the Catholic Church (no matter how awful its conduct), where there is at least consensus, permanency, a venerable past and guaranteed succession.31 The Calvinists could not boast a more wholesome morality either, having killed Michel Servet, sentenced Giovanni Valentino Gentile to death, and expelled Bernardino Ochino. Do we not claim that ‘our weapon is spiritual and not carnal?’, Dudith exclaimed. ‘Do we not repeat again and again that faith should not be enforced, liberty ‘Ita est, ut scribis: magno equidem et forti animo extra Romanae ecclesiae castra pedem extuli. Sed illud dissimulare nolo, mi Wolphi, ex omnibus adversis rebus nihil mihi ita acerbum accidere posse quod eum dolorem aequare possit, quem capere soleo, quoties animo repeto quam multae, quam pugnantes, quam adversariae sint, tum alibi tum in hoc regno, ecclesiae, quae tamen reformati vocari et haberi volunt. Id tu quoque in litteris tuis attigisti. Quamvis, quod me offendit et excruciat, inde tu fidei robur et firmitatem petere videare [. . .]’. Letter of 29 May 1569, Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 105. 28 ‘Ac nisi Deus lucem a tenebris discriminet, in eam perturbationem confusionemque religio adducetur ut non sit cur quisquam bonus vir vivere amplius velit.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 105. 29 ‘In tantis enim tamque contrariis de pietate sententiis quo se alio vertant ubi sit constans et perpetua in sententia permansio?’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 107. 30 ‘Unam esse veritatem, unam veritatis columnam et fundamentum necesse est. In tanta autem ecclesiarum varietate, in tam dissimilibus et hostiliter discrepantibus de veritate sententiis, quibus occulis, quae una illa et vera sit ecclesia, discernam?’ ( ibid.) Dudith added that Wolf should not point to the disagreements between the Church Fathers, because these were minor in importance, did not concern the truth, and were judged and put to rest either by the Councils or by the Pope. 31 Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 106–107, l. 59–72. 27

172

gábor almási

of conscience should be permitted, and no one should be persecuted for religious reasons?’ 32 Dudith did not mean to provoke only Wolf by this letter, but also Beza, to whom he sent a copy. 33 The Genevan theologian attached much importance to his reply: three years later he published it as the first of his religious letters. 34 First of all, he wondered why Dudith was so bothered by conἀicting opinions, which had always existed since the beginning of Christianity, but which did not mean that one could not see what was right and what was wrong. He denied that there were great differences of opinion in his church, although he found it highly unfair that an outsider should judge the internal affairs of a church. If there was no unity among Christians it was the fault of papists and Arians, however there would be no unity unless everyone thought the same about everything in all respects. 35 If Dudith listened to learned and pious men, and attended church services, ‘where God’s mercy is asked for with sacred prayers, where the Lord’s Supper is celebrated as a means of heightening and confirming religious belief’, he would very soon see clearly and find inner peace.36 Nonetheless, what really offended Beza were Dudith’s charges regarding the measures taken against heretics like Servet, Gentile, Ochino, Francesco Stancaro, and Andreas Osiander. Beza asserted that it was not correct to use the rhetoric of ‘liberty of conscience’ in order to worship God in an individual way. What was happening in this respect in Poland and Transylvania was completely wrong: ‘Et illa est diabolica libertas, quae Poloniam et Transsilvaniam hodie tot pestibus implevit quas nullae alioqui sub sole

32 ‘Dicemusne “arma nostra spiritualia, non carnalia esse? ” Iactabimusne amplius fidem cogi non oportere, libertatem conscientiis permittendam esse, neminem in causa religionis ferro et igne persequendum esse? Sed nolo in hac parte molestior esse; id tantum, quod inicio dicebam, repeto, magnum me ex communi calamitate atque opinionum varietate et acerbum dolorem capere.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 110. See 2 Cor. 10:4, ‘nam arma militiae nostrae non carnalia sunt.’ 33 Dudith explained that the objective of his letter to Wolf was to provoke an answer which he might be able to use if he needed to face similar charges. Letter of 23 June 1569, Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 113–116. 34 Theodorus Beza Vezelius, Epistolarum theologicarum Theodori Bezae Vezelii liber unus (Geneva 1573), 1–23. 35 This comes later in the letter: ‘nullam unitatem (agnoscimus), nisi qua omnes de omnibus idem per omnia sentiunt.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 145, l. 160 (18 June 1570). 36 ‘[. . .] ubi sollemnibus precibus Dei gratia postulatur, ubi cena Domini augendae ac confirmandae fidei organon rite celebratur.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 138, l. 218–219.

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

173

regiones tolerarent.’37 He called Dudith’s attention to the fact that this ‘diabolic liberty’ would destroy the French Huguenots, who, up to that time, had maintained an exemplary church discipline. Heretics should not be persecuted, Beza affirmed, but needed at all costs to be kept in check by the civil authorities: If such attempts were made among you and the wretched Transylvanians, you would not be reduced to a state which I judge not less miserable than Mohammedanism, as time will reveal; and there would be no new Babylon built there, from whence Satan may later attack the rest of the West (insofar as he has the power to do so). 38

What Dudith sent back to Beza in response was his first long lettertreatise on religious questions and on religious freedom. 39 Adopting Beza’s harsh tone, he made clear that the desperation he felt about the arrogance typifying the churches and about conἀicts of opinion was indeed profound and justified. Everyone appropriated the Scripture for his own purposes, everyone denounced others as heretics, and if an outsider demanded the right to question the Bible or to deal with a theological problem that had been neglected, he was persecuted. Religious divisions had already turned nations against each other. In brief, Dudith argued that the confessionalisation of his age, the product of the Reformation, was a complete failure, since it did not lead any closer to Christ’s way. His objective, however, was more than to deliver an Erasmian verdict on Swiss ideas of church discipline. It appears that another important goal for him was to establish grounds for scepticism. Why should I follow you and not an Arian, Dudith inquired. ‘Tu me, ego te prophetam esse negabo [. . .]. Mihi autem quae tibi libertas placet. Tu iugum excussisti, ne ego quidem illud subibo.’ 40 Again and 37 ‘And that is a diabolic liberty which has afflicted Poland and Transylvania with so much pestilence in these days, which would not be tolerated in any other region under the sun.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 147, l. 513–515. 38 ‘[. . .] non persequendos, sed modis omnibus a magistratu coercendos censeo; quod si apud vos et miseros Transsilvanos tentatum saltem esset, non essetis in eam condicionem redacti, quam ego ipso Mahumetismo nihilominus miserabilem esse iudico, et tempus ipsum ostendet; neque nunc nova Babylon iam istic exaedificaretur, ex qua in reliquum occidentem probabile est satanam impetum pro viribus facturum.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 148, l. 559–564. 39 Letter of 1 August 1570, Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 158–182. However, this letter seems to be dated incorrectly, and was not ready until a few months later. See Dudith’s autograph letter of 9 October 1570: Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 237. 40 ‘I will not accept you, you will not accept me as a prophet. [. . .] I like liberty as much as you do. You have shaken off the yoke, and I am not going to submit to it either.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 176, l. 458–462 (1 August 1570).

174

gábor almási

again he came back to the same question: among all these conἀicting beliefs who was to decide which was the true one? Dudith finally concluded that there were valid reasons why he still could not make up his mind which confession to choose. While this letter suggests that Dudith’s scepticism was strategic, that is, its purpose was to justify and maintain his comfortable position, unconstrained by any religious institution, additional information implies that by 1570 he was not so sceptical about certain religious issues. At this time he was already deeply inἀuenced by a pivotal Antitrinitarian anthology edited by Ferenc Dávid and Giorgio Biandrata in Transylvania and also had contacts with Polish Arians. 41 Temporarily, Dudith seems to have followed Arians even in their hopes to lead the Reformation movement to a consensus based on Antitrinitarian ideas and on common exegetical foundations. 42 In fact, finding a consensus was the mission of an important synod in Poland, the Synod of Sandomierz, for which Dudith was requested to prepare a creed. It was the Palatine of Cracow in person who urged him to devote himself to this task without any subterfuge. 43 Dudith accepted the assignment and promised to come up with a confession that could satisfy all parties, an ambition that Catholic commentators considered quite ridiculous. In fact, they proved to be right. The famous, symbolically important Consensus of Sandomierz (to which Dudith does not seem to have contributed in the end) had little political significance, and was not able to function as a common politico-religious basis for the Protestants (that is, the Polish and Lithuanian Reformed Churches, the Bohemian Brethren, and the Lutherans). 44 The Polish Reformation remained as divided as it had ever been, despite the growing awareness of a need for consensus. This awareness was raised in particular by the spread of Arianism, which was believed to discredit the Polish Calvinist movement, and was also deemed dangerous because Arian thinkers 41 De falsa et vera unius Dei Patris, Filii et Spiritus Sancti cognitione libri duo (Alba Iulia [1568]). 42 These hopes, however, could not have lasted long (and it is doubtful if they were more than wishful thinking). See his letter to Péter Károlyi (Carolinus) of 1 August 1572: Dudith, Epistulae 2, 339–344 (esp. l. 94–100). 43 See Stanisław Grzepski’s letter to Martin Kromer of 28 March 1570, cited in an informative note in Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 347–348: ‘[. . .] rogavit ne se excusaret, sed susciperet provinciam scribendae confessionis.’ 44 For a guarded appreciation of the consensus, see D. Petkūnas, ‘Consensus of Sandomierz—a Unique Ecumenical Document in 16th Century Polish-Lithuanian Protestant Christianity’, in Tiltai/Bridges 9 (2005/1), 182–200.

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

175

were generally on a higher theological level. 45 Significantly, one of the most critical obstacles in the way of Polish Protestant concord was the debate on the dogma and liturgy of the Eucharist. When put in this context, we are prompted to conclude that the real issue about individual religious thinking in the correspondence between Dudith and Beza was the right to follow Arian thinking. Dudith, however, treated the arguments for more tolerance and for Antitrinitarianism separately. On the latter subject he prepared another letter-treatise, addressed to Beza, which also included an Antitrinitarian confession based on simple exegetical rules. 46 This booklet was not sent to Beza, although a copy circulating in manuscript form reached him later.47 By the time the Calvinist theologian read it, he already knew of Dudith’s Arian sympathies from other sources, most importantly from a letter he had written to the Polish Calvinist theologian and historian Jan Lasicki (Johannes Lazitius). 48 It is worth having a short look at the broader context of this letter, as it reveals that, by the 1560s, Arianism had become a key issue of the Reformation process in several places simultaneously. Dudith’s Antitrinitarian ‘coming-out’ was in part prompted by Lasicki, who was staying at the time in Heidelberg and Wittenberg. Lasicki’s mission to Germany was initiated by Polish Calvinists who were eager to counter the spread of Arianism in their church; his task was to find competent Reformed theologians who could adequately respond to the challenge of Italian and Transylvanian Arians. However, the Antitrinitarian publications that he took with him to Germany exerted more inἀuence than dismay. In this way Lasicki is supposed to have contributed to the spread of Arianism and to the Arian scandal 45 On the Polish Reformation and on the question of Arianism, see J. Kłoczowski, A History of Polish Christianity (Cambridge 2000), 84–125 with further bibliographical references. See also D. Petkūnas, Holy Communion Rites in the Polish and Lithuanian Reformed Agendas of the 16th and Early 17th Centuries (PhD Dissertation, on the internet) (Helsinki 2004), 11–43; P. Fox, The Reformation in Poland. Some Social and Economic Aspects (Baltimore 1924). For more bibliographical details, see Tedeschi, The Italian Reformation, 740–758. 46 This booklet was shown later to the Polish King and Transylvanian Prince, Stephan Báthory, in 1583. See Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 348, n. 1, and 174, l. 417–418. 47 See Beza’s letter to Dudith of 15 December 1577, Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 81–84. 48 Jan Lasicki’s letter and Dudith’s response circulated widely in Europe, and were finally printed in 1590 (Andreas Dudith, Epistola ad Joanem Lasicium equitem Polonum. In qua de divina Triade disputatur [Cracoviae]). Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 247–279; see also 283–284. On Lasicki, see H. Barycz, Les premiers contacts de Jan Lasicki avec la culture occidentale (Warsaw 1972).

176

gábor almási

in Heidelberg.49 Curiously, the problems of Antitrinitarianism, tolerance and church discipline did not only cohere in Dudith’s mental world but also in Heidelberg’s tough reality. The growing power of the Kirchenrat and of the Genevan party in the Palatinate (led among others by Girolamo Zanchi and sustained by Elector Frederick III) faced considerable opposition in various questions, among which the introduction of the Genevan type of church discipline was probably one of the most important. Hence, the Arian scandal, which led to the execution of Joannes Sylvanus and the persecution of other popular, theologically well-versed preachers (like Adam Neuser and Matthias Vehe-Glirius), was not so much about the spread of Arianism (since these people presumably did not preach along Antitrinitarian lines) as about ensuring greater legitimacy for their isolation and repression. 50 In view of the Polish and Heidelberg political and religious contexts, it is no wonder that almost nobody cared any more about Dudith’s plea for more tolerance. Instead, people were amazed about his support of the heretics. Although it was his own fault, Dudith felt seriously distressed about the news of his Arianism. He clearly saw that an ‘Arian’ was simply unfit for any good society outside Poland and Transylvania. It was something a person whose ambition was to remain a Habsburg courtier and an authoritative figure in the Republic of Letters could not easily afford. It was also something that radically compromised his position as a neutral judge in religious questions. Already before his marriage he reportedly commented that ‘whoever is given to one opinion or another, whether it concerns the Trinity or another topic, cannot really mediate between the parties, because he cannot solve the

49 E.M. Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism, Socinianism and its Antecedents (Cambridge, Mass. 1946), 158–264; R. Dán, Matthias Vehe-Glirius. Life and Work of a Radical Antitrinitarian with his Collected Writings (Budapest-Leiden 1982), 13–36; C.J. Burchill, The Heidelberg Antitrinitarians: Johann Sylvan, Adam Neuser, Matthias Vehe, Jacob Suter, and Johann Hasler , Bibliotheca Dissidentium 11 (Baden-Baden— Bouxwiller 1989), 21–105; P. Philippi, ‘Silvanus und Transsylvanien: ein Stück Toleranzgeschichte zwischen Heidelberg und Siebenbürgen’, in W. Doerr (ed.), Semper Apertus. 600 Jahre Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg 1386–1986 (Berlin 1985) 1, 213–230. 50 The scandal was aimed at making manifest who had the authority to control Christian ideology and to decide which were the theologically disputable questions. See C.J. Burchill, ‘Heidelberg and the Trinity: Comments on the Ideological Formation of the Palatine Reformation’. Paper presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (St Louis, Missouri, October 1999)—on the internet.

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

177

problem and make peace.’51 Although he felt growing sympathy for the Arians, he did not wish to put on any kind of confessional straitjacket. In fact, in his longest letter-treatise, provoked by the rather arrogant Arian Francesco Stancaro, Dudith harshly disagreed with mainstream Antitrinitarianism in several points. He denied the usefulness of Hebrew, and later of Syrian studies, 52 for Christian exegesis, and on the whole, refused to accept the authority of the Old Testament. 53 With the news of Dudith’s Arianism spreading rapidly, the period of intense religious debate that lasted for four years came to an end and gave place to his growing interest in the natural sciences. The reason for this change was not solely the alienation of his earlier correspondents but also the new political circumstances in Poland. When the Polish King Zygmunt August died in 1572 without an heir, the future of relative religious liberty became uncertain. At the same time, the interregnum provided Dudith with opportunities for a political involvement he had never dreamt of. After he became the official legate of the Habsburgs in 1573, he had to re-evaluate his religious behaviour. He imposed silence upon himself and neither wrote nor reasoned, or got into disputes—as he confessed later to one of his closest friends, the radical religious thinker Jacobus Palaeologus. 54 People

51 See Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski’s reference to Dudith in a foreword addressed to Zygmunt August (in December 1565). Andreas Fricius Modrevius, Silvae quatuor (Basel 1590), B1v: ‘Is [Dudith] negabat, eum, qui alterutri, seu de Trinitate, seu de quavis re alia, sententiae adhaerescat, medium se inter partes ipsas inferre, controversiamque dirimere atque sedare posse.’ 52 See in this respect his letter to Quirinus Reuter of 27 August 1583; Esztergom, FSzK, Cat. V Tit. IV/d, p. 106–109. 53 Letter of 14/22 September 1571, Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 285–318, especially 307, l. 513–515: ‘Quare nihil vetera ista vestra moramur, quae nihil ad nos pertinere intellegimus, sive ad instruendam fidem, sive etiam vitam instituendam.’ This very difficult letter with many Hebrew passages has been analysed by Caccamo, Eretici italiani in Moravia, Polonia, Transilvania , 123–125; and by R. Dán, Humanizmus, reformáció, antitrinitarizmus és a héber nyelv Magyarországon (Budapest 1973), 89–102. Dán argued that Arians could not disregard the Old Testament (and its Hebrew original) like Dudith, because they wanted to obtain the support from the masses and for this reason needed simpler logic and terminology based on the authority of the Old Testament. 54 See his letter to Jacobus Palaeologus of 31 December 1576, Dudithius, Epistolae 5, 306, l. 118. On Palaeologus see C. Landsteiner, Jacobus Palaeologus. Eine Studie (Wien 1873); A. Pirnát, Die Ideologie der Siebenbürger Antitrinitarier in den 1570er Jahren (Budapest 1961), 180–193; M. Firpo, Antitrinitari nell’Europa orientale del’ 500. Nuovi testi di Szymon Budny, Niccolo Paruta, e Jacopo Paleologo (Florence 1977); M. Balázs, ‘Előszó’, in Idem (ed.), Földi és égi hitviták. Válogatás Jacobus Palaeologus munkáiból (Budapest-Kolozsvár 2003), 7–34.

178

gábor almási

again had difficulty in placing him in a specific category: the Spanish ambassador in Vienna reported that some thought he was a Calvinist, others that he was an Arian. 55 Nevertheless, it appears that Dudith was finally forced to officially detach himself from Arianism.56 The Genevan and Heidelberg leaders, Theodorus Beza and Girolamo Zanchi, did not hesitate to congratulate him on his ‘return’, but the prestigious Habsburg legate (with whom many people tried to associate in those days) left their letters unanswered.57 Beza vainly urged the busy diplomat for an answer; not even the third edition of his Poemata with an unchanged preface had any effect.58 In 1577, two years after the failure of the Polish elections, the politically rehabilitated Habsburg courtier started communicating again with Beza, but their correspondence rarely contained new arguments about religion. Nevertheless, it did not mean that Dudith managed to find any solution for the crisis of authority, which still remained acute ever since he had enjoyed the liberty of choosing the right confession. As he declared in a letter to Palaeologus: Here I find myself amidst a mixture of ceremonies and opinions, of a certain form of Lutheranism and a strange Papism, I leave the practice for the people, as it is said, and keep my opinion to myself. This huge variety of Christian beliefs in all the sects offends my mind. If the truth is one, why are there so many contrary views, where is truth in the Scripture? How should I understand it in view of such a variety of interpreters? Everyone claims the Scripture for himself. I know very well how these questions are answered, but these are answers that serve all parties, and are commonplaces, etc. 59

55 Comes de Montagudo to Philip II, letter of 18 October 1573, in V. Meysztowicz (ed.), Documenta Polonica ex Archivo Generali Hispaniae in Simancas , 2: Elementa ad fontium editiones, 11 (Rome 1964), 59. 56 The reason might have been his marriage into one of Poland’s most powerful families, the Zborowskis. 57 Beza to Dudith, 6 September 1574, Dudithius, Epistolae 3, 242–243; Girolamo Zanchi to Dudith, 11 September 1574, ibid., 246–247. See also Beza to Dudith, 7 October 1575, Dudithius, Epistolae 4, 395. 58 Theodorus Beza, Poemata: Psalmi Davidici XXX. Sylvae. Elegiae . . . (Geneva 1576). 59 ‘Hic intersum ceremoniis et concionibus hermaphroditicis et un certo recipe di lutheranismo e papismo mirabile, basta usum populo permitto, come dice colui, scientiam mihi reservo. Me ofende l’animo tanta varietà d’openioni nel cristianesimo, in tutte le sette. Se la verità è una, perché tante contrarietà, ubi est igitur nella Scrittura? Come l’intenderò in tanta varietate interpretum? Ognuno la vuole per sé. So ben quel che si risponde a questo, ma sono cose che servono ad ogni parte, sono luoghi comuni, ecc.’ Letter of 31 December 1576, Dudithius, Epistolae 5, 306.

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

179

While the rhetoric of Dudith’s scepticism did not change, it worked now on a quite different level than six years before. On the one hand, his earlier enthusiasm for the Transylvanian Arians Dávid and Biandrata dissolved as soon as the two turned against each other and finally Biandrata had Dávid imprisoned by the Transylvanian Prince.60 On the other hand, Dudith was now indeed looking for ‘more solid things’ 61 and was ready to conquer the world of astronomy and medicine. He soon found new company among the most advanced mathematicians: Georg Rheticus, Johannes Praetorius, Paulus Wittich, Thaddaeus Hagecius (Tadeáš Hájek), and Henry Savile. Both in his justly famous treatises on the comet of 1577–1578 and in his medical letters, he spent much of his energy on establishing the claim that theological considerations and ‘prejudices’ had no validity in the area of natural sciences. In a letter addressed to Thomas Erastus that accompanied his commentary on comets, Dudith forcefully affirmed the primacy of experience: Come on then, and descend to admire that rich theatre of the world that I have described. Study nature with your own eyes and senses, and not with those of others [. . .]. This is not the school of the Pythagoreans or of the theologians, where authority is deemed more important than reason. This kind of honour we reserve only for theology, therefore, we should accept without doubts all that ἀows from the sacred books as sacrosanct and as well-founded truth. In other fields, especially in the natural sciences ( philosophia naturalis), we leave it to ingenious and cultured people to make judgements. 62

See his letter to Thomas Jordan, 16 August 1579, Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 241: ‘Numquamne tot disputationum ac dissensionum finem videbimus? Illud sane putidum videtur, ad ea illos quoque arma confugere, quibus pontifices et, si qui in eo pontifices imitantur, impie ac contra Dei iussa uti clamitant.’ On Transylvanian Antitrinitarianism see M. Balázs, Early Transylvanian Antitrinitarianism, 1566–1571: from Servet to Palaeologus (Baden-Baden 1996). 61 See the quotation at the beginning of my paper, where he claims that this change happened much earlier. 62 Dudith to Thomas Jordan, 1 February 1579, Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 200, l. 50–59: ‘Age igitur, descende tu quoque in admirandum hoc pulcherrimum, quod dixi, orbis theatrum. Tuis oculis, non alienis, naturam intuere, tuos sensus adhibe [. . .]. Non haec Pythagoreorum est schola, non theologorum, in quibus auctoritas pro ratione admitti debeat. Soli hunc theologiae honorem habemus ut, quod ex sacris monumentis profert, id nos sine ulla dubitatione pro sacrosancta et firma veritate recipiamus. Liberum in aliis artibus atque primis in philosophia naturali iudicium ingeniosis et politis hominibus relinquimus.’ The treatise on the comet was published twice: Andr. Duditii viri Clariss. de cometarum significatione commentariolus . . . (Basel 1579), 13–50; De Cometis dissertationes novae clariss. virorum Thom. Erasti, Andr. Dudithii, Marc. 60

180

gábor almási

Dudith’s ideas about the natural sciences and theology progressed hand in hand. 63 He not only denied that comets were miraculous phenomena, but apparently also questioned the factuality of miracles even in the New Testament! 64 Physics was a field where sceptical arguments might be used to inspire research, 65 but where the foundations were at least solid: ‘omnis nostra notitia, omnis cognitio a sensibus est’, Dudith asserted.66 Quite the contrary, theology lacked all solid hermeneutic foundation, he claimed in a letter to the famous Arian Fausto Sozzini, and returning to his favourite questions, he added: ‘Among all the disagreeing interpretations of the Scripture, how can one find the true one, and how can one find the true church?’ Sozzini however understood the weakness of this position, and wondered why Dudith thought ‘that there should always exist an irrefutable, visible church, which can serve us as a guide and master in religious matters?’ 67 In the last ten years of his life Dudith lived in Lutheran Breslau, which had an important crypto-Calvinist community. At the beginning, he enjoyed relative peace even if the authorities kept a watchful eye on him.68 Nevertheless, the question of religious dissimulation very soon came to the fore, and he initiated a new polemic with a Calvinist Squarcialupi, Symon Grynaei ([Basileae] 1580), 167–196. Republished in Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 108–133. 63 Dudith’s example seems to reconfirm Popkin’s theory: to a great degree the scientific revolution was rooted in religious scepticism; R.H. Popkin, The History of Scepticism from Erasmus to Descartes (Assen 1964). 64 See Faustus Socinus’s letter to him, 10 June 1582, Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum 1 (Irenopoli [Amsterdam] 1656), 501–508. 65 In a letter to the mathematician Johannes Praetorius (28 August 1581), Dudith approved of his thoughts on Copernicus’s hypotheses, adding ‘whether they are true or not is of limited interest, if only they answer our questions’ (Placet, quod de hypothesibus Copernicianis scribis; verae sint, an falsae, non magni interest, modo id, quod quaerimus, nos doceant). See Brussels, Royal Library, ms. 19306, 49, no. 83, f. 103v. 66 See his letter on the comet to Thaddeus Hagecius (Tadeáš Hájek) of 26 September 1580, Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 366, l. 103. 67 ‘Illud praeterea miror te, quemadmodum et ex his tuis verbis et multo magis ex aliis deinde sequentibus colligi potest, tamquam indubitatum ponere exstare semper visibilem aliquam ecclesiam debere, quae in rerum divinarum cognitione dux nobis et magistra sit. At cui fundamento hypothesin istam tuam superstruis? Illi fortassis, quod ad ostendendum ecclesiam errare non posse dixisti de nullo nos dogmate certos alioquin futuros? Sed respondeo non esse necessum, ut de dogmatibus certi simus, nisi iis, sine quibus salutem consequi nequimus.’ (10 June 1582: Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum 1, 506). 68 In his letter to Crato von Krafftheim (8 August 1582), Dudith confirmed that he tried not to give cause for trouble in Breslau and remained silent on primary religious questions, although he did not hide his opinion on the Eucharist or on the nature of good acts, when learned people (of the place) asked about them. Cited by J.F.A. Gillet,

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

181

friend of Beza’s, the German legist Christoph Hardesheim, on the problem of Nicodemism. While Hardesheim (and in a short letter also Beza) was ready to tolerate a low level of dissimulation in the interest of peace in the church, Dudith asserted that dissimulation was not an acceptable alternative to a religious and moral life. ‘If you think that our opinions should be dissimulated’, he told Beza, ‘just note how many opportunities you are creating for Nicodemists to commit bad deeds.’69 He did not care if the heterodoxy of individuals should disturb the public peace: ‘Nulla autem tanti esse debet pax ut contra Christi mandatum atque exemplum venire debeamus.’ 70 It is, however, dubious whether the luxury of individual religious truth was worth everything. In his written communications, Dudith became increasingly cautious, sometimes to the extent that he felt terrorised. The change in his attitude was also reflected in the changing interpretation he gave to his former involvement in religious debates. When, in 1571, he decided to openly admit his Arian sympathies, he claimed to disdain any religious simulation: if he had wanted to simulate and dissimulate, and argue for and against like the Academicians, only to finally accept as true what the Catholic Church held true, he would not have needed to change his life so radically by rejecting the lure of the imperial court. 71 Twelve years later, in 1583, he confirmed that he treated even the most crucial questions in a such a way that no one could easily provoke him to start a public debate. However, as he pointed out, it had not always been so. Once he used to be more active and often examined things in utramque partem ‘to practice his talents and to learn’. 72 Now, Dudith kept repeating, all he wanted was Crato von Crafftheim und seine Freunde. Ein Beitrag zur Kirchengeschichte (Frankfurt am Main 1860), 2, 336–337. 69 ‘Si dissimulandam esse sententiam existimes, vide quantam Nicodemitis ad mala multa fenestram aperias.’ Letter of 12 June 1580, Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 330–331. 70 ‘No peace should be so important that we need to go against Christ’s command and example because of it.’ Letter of 24 December 1580, Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 418, l. 195. However, this was not meant to be a call for non-conformism, but once again, a protest against religious intolerance: ‘Neque enim multum interesse puto, si quis vere neget aut dissimulatione tegat sententiam suam. Multo etiam maius esse crimen suspicor publice, coram populo, ad eos te accessisse ostendere spectandumque praebere, qui tuos cives ac fratres diaboli martyres, Mahometanos, Epicureos, impios, blasphemos esse perpetuo proclamant.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 415, l. 108–112. 71 Letter of 9 July 1571 to Jan Lasicki, Dudithius, Epistolae 2, 256 (esp. l. 26–36). 72 Letter to Thomas Jordan, 22 April 1583: ‘Nunc quidem illa, quae nobis maxime cordi esse deberent et salutaria studia ita tracto, ut non facile, etiam provocatus, de ullo religionis nostrae controverso capite in arenam descendam. Fuit olim, cum

182

gábor almási

peace,73 and he strongly dissuaded others from starting any debate, especially with the Jesuits: the Pope’s power was just too great. 74 In 1582, his fears proved to be justified: the Inquisition carried away his friend Jacobus Palaeologus from the house of his powerful Bohemian patron to Rome, where he was sentenced to death. Sometimes he felt personally in danger: ‘If the Pope should take it into his head to claim me, too, for burning at the stake,’ he exclaimed in a letter to Crato, ‘how could I avoid being handed over to him to be tortured in this way?’75 Although he had once praised martyrs for not dissimulating, now he confirmed that he did not want to end up as the Pope’s victim.76 Despite all his caution, in a couple of years his home in Breslau came to be considered a hotbed of heresy. 77 Some people looked suspiciously at the gatherings he had in his house on feast days (in other words, they disagreed with the practice of private worship), and denounced him and others to the emperor, who demanded an explanation from the Catholic bishop of Breslau. 78 Although Dudith was saved from expulsion by his powerful patrons at the imperial court, his rather limited campaign for religious tolerance came to a definite end. Had he been impiger ad hoc certamen essem in utramque partem saepe disserens exercendi ingenii ac discendi causa.’ F.Ch. Schlosser, Leben des Theodor de Beza und des Peter Martyr Vermili (Heidelberg 1809), 333. 73 See for example his letter to Petrus Monavius (Monau), 19 July 1580: ‘Omnes meae cogitationes, studia omnia quietem spectant, quam qui perturbare conabuntur, deos ultores habebunt.’ Dudithius, Epistolae 6, 343, l. 21–22. 74 Letter sent to Hagecius, 21 February 1581, Gillet, Crato von Crafftheim 2, 306: ‘Missos fac Iesuitas ac theologicas disputationes et tuam Spartam orna. Habes philosophiam, habes medicinam, mathematicam scientiam. In iis artibus multa sunt obscura, multa eiusmodi, in quibus explicandis augendisque praeclarum ingenium, eruditionem tuam exercere et de litterarum studiosis bene mereri poteris.’ 75 ‘Si Pontifici in mentem veniat me quoque ad flammas expetere, quid prohibet quin ego quoque ipsi ad lanienam dedar?’ Gillet, Crato von Crafftheim 2, 336. (30 July 1582). See also his other letters of the same period: ibid., 335–337. 76 See Faustus Socinus’s reply of 10 March 1583 ( Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum 1, 509). 77 The case is described by Gillet, Crato von Crafftheim 2, 358–362. See also Dudith’s letter to Petrus Monavius of 27 July 1584 (Brussels, Royal Library, ms. 19306, 57, no. 99): ‘Certe qui in eas inciderint, cum me in eum modum traduci domumque meam perniciosorum dogmatum et horum haereticorum latebras, in qua spargendis haeresibus et propagandis idonea fiant conventicula, vocari videbunt me longe alium, quam equidem me esse sentio, existimabunt.’ 78 Praetorius to Georg Michael Lingelsheim, 1 September 1607: Ludwig Christian Mieg, Monumenta pietatis et literaria virorum in re publica et literaria illustrium, selecta (Frankfurt am Main 1702), 128. See also, for Dudith’s complaints, his letter to Nicolaus Rhediger of 1586: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, R 402, no. 50, f. 90r. Cf. Dudith to Justus Lipsius, in a letter of 1 March 1587, in ILE 2, 87 03 01, 334–336 [ ILE 2 = M.A. Nauwelaerts and S. Sué (eds), Iusti Lipsi Epistolae 2: 1584–1587 (Brussels 1983)].

andreas dudith (1533–1589)

183

more cautious earlier—as he wrote in a letter to another friend—he would not have needed to continue to suffer the consequences now.79 It is no surprise that in 1585 he was greatly shocked to discover that parts of his religious correspondence with Beza had been published again and to hear that Beza was pondering a possible answer to his long letter-treatise of 1570. He swore that there was absolutely no need for continuing that old argument unless Beza wanted to humiliate him: ‘When I happened to find that letter, which I wrote to you some fifteen years ago (if I am not mistaken)—I do not know what made me do it—I felt great shame and pain.’ 80 The only part he still felt convinced about, he claimed, was that heretics should not be murdered. In the end, Dudith’s scepticism seems more than a research tool, or a pose, even if it could function on different levels in different contexts of his life. His case seems to affirm the assertion that late sixteenthcentury discourse of tolerance was much inἀuenced by the growth of sceptical thinking.81 Although around 1570 he eagerly supported the Arians, he did not stop being a sceptic on several religious questions. Still, we should not forget that his scepticism continued to have strategic uses: even after his political rehabilitation and reintegration into the Republic of Letters he would not join any religious establishment. As a prestigious humanist, he certainly liked to be seen in the role of the impartial judge who can easily overcome dogmatic squabbles. Furthermore, Dudith demanded more than the right of individual religious thinking: he also wished to worship in an individual way. 82 Paradoxically, it was the strategy of radical scepticism and of refuting any compromise in ecclesiastical questions that enabled him to follow a personal path to salvation. Andreas Dudith’s non-conformism was quite exceptional. His demand for individual interpretation of the Scripture was nothing Letter to Jordan of 22 April 1583, Schlosser, Leben des Theodor de Beza, 333. ‘Cum in epistolam illam incidi, quam ante XV, ni fallor, annos, nescio quo genio impellente, ad te dederam, et pudore et dolore summo affectus sum.’ Letter of 13 January 1585, Gillet, Crato von Crafftheim 2, 543. 81 See A. Levine, ‘Introduction: the Prehistory of Toleration and Varieties of Skepticism’, in Idem (ed.), Early Modern Skepticism and the Origins of Toleration (Oxford 1999), 1–16. 82 On private worship in this period, see B.J. Kaplan, ‘Fictions of Privacy: House Chapels and the Spatial Accommodation of Religious Dissent in Early Modern Europe’, in American Historical Review 107 (2002), 1031–1064; J. Pollman, ‘The Bond of Christian Piety: the Individual Practice of Tolerance and Intolerance in the Dutch Republic’, in R. Po-chia Hsia and H. van Nierop (eds), Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age (Cambridge 2002), 53–71. 79 80

184

gábor almási

new, but his insistence on an institutionally uncontrolled Christian existence was uncommon. However, this demand was made from a privileged position and had an elitist colouring, typical of the Polish Reformation dominated by the noble estate. The strict observance prevailing in most Calvinist communities in the West, which placed religious conformism above religious liberty, does not seem to have appealed to the mentality of the East European nobility, who were still relatively free of the real pains of confessionalisation. 83 Moreover, Dudith was not only a prosperous nobleman but also an inἀuential officer at the Habsburg court with the backing of both the emperor and the Polish king. As a result, he enjoyed the luxury of remaining a moralist throughout his life, following an ethic of conviction instead of an ethic of responsibility, which may be discernible in Lipsius’s political philosophy. 84 His irenicism meant that individual religious choice should not necessarily lead to hostility. Several people in Europe thought the same, but others, like Beza and his colleagues, deemed this irenicism naive and even dangerous. Whether his plea for tolerance meant that Dudith believed in the eventual harmony of discordant opinions and beliefs ( in concordia discors) is doubtful, but what is certain is that he could never accept the use of power in the interest of greater consensus. 85 And since he clearly saw that it was impossible to objectively judge and to agree on crucial questions of Christianity, he also understood that confessionalisation, that is, fighting for control of Christian ideology using sharply polarised language, was very much a question of power games.

83 See J. Kłoczowski, ‘Some Remarks on the Social and Religious History of Sixteenth-Century Poland’, in S. Fiszman (ed.), The Polish Renaissance in its European Context (Bloomington 1988), 99. 84 For these Weberian concepts see Max Weber, ‘The Profession and Vocation of Politics’, in P. Lassman and R. Speirs (eds), Max Weber: Political Writings (Cambridge 1994), 309–369. 85 Dudith appears to have paraphrased in Latin Themistius’ fifth oration, which argued that religious plurality ( in concordia discors ) appeals to God. He denied the authorship of the text and presented it as one of the Greek philosopher’s lost orations addressed to Emperor Valens. Whatever role he played in the creation of the text, he never came back to Themistius’ key arguments in his letters and showed the oration apparently only to his closest friends. See G. Almási, ‘The riddle of Themistius’ “Twelfth oration” and the question of religious tolerance in the sixteenth century’, in Central Europe 2 (2004), 83–108.

LIVRES, ÉRUDITION ET IRÉNISME À L’ÉPOQUE DES GUERRES DE RELIGION: AUTOUR DE LA SATYRE MÉNIPPÉE Ingrid A.R. De Smet (Warwick) sine litteris vitam nullam vitalem (Isaac Casaubon à Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, 1588) L’histoire de la lecture et de l’érudition en tant qu’activités sociointellectuelles s’est avérée un champ d’étude bien fleurissant. Pour la France dans la deuxième moitié du seizième siècle, lorsque le pays fut troublé par les Guerres de Religion, l’érudition, la lecture et l’écriture ont été interprétées, souvent de façon générale, comme des réactions au conflit religieux et à l’agitation sociale.1 Il nous a paru instructif d’approfondir et de concrétiser ici cette idée de la lecture, de l’écriture et de la bibliophilie comme des occupations iréniques à travers des exemples fournis par les auteurs de la Satyre Ménippée et d’autres qui leur sont associés. Nous démontrerons ainsi que les allusions aux malheurs publics que nous retrouvons si fréquemment dans la correspondance érudite de l’époque (et notamment dans les adresses quasi officielles des épîtres dédicatoires) sont encadrées d’un discours plus large, discours assujetti d’ailleurs à des modifications et des glissements tout aussi subtils que significatifs. Guerre et paix: une lecture de la

‘Satyre Ménippée’

Commençons in medias res. Le 8 août 1590, vers la fin du second siège de Paris, un nombre de citoyens se rebellèrent contre la Ligue, criant: ‘Du pain ou la paix!’ 2 Toute autre considération mise à part, la 1 Voir par exemple, A. Grafton, Defenders of the Text. The Traditions of Scholarship in an Age of Science, 1450–1800 (Cambridge, Mass.-Londres 1991; 19942), 144 (suivant C. Vivanti, Lotta politica et pace religiosa), et, plus récemment, M.-M. Fragonard, ‘L’Erudition entre idéal irénique et tentation polémique’, dans M.-M. Fragonard et P.-E. Leroy (éds.), Les Pithou: Les lettres et la paix du Royaume. Actes du Colloque de Troyes des 13–15 avril 1998 , Colloques sur la Renaissance (Paris 2003), 353–365. 2 Voir par exemple, E. Barnavi, Le Parti de Dieu: étude sociale et politique des chefs de la Ligue parisienne 1585–1594 , Publications de la Sorbonne, N.S., Recherches 34 (Bruxelles-Louvain 1980), 186. Jacques-Auguste de Thou fait mention de la rébellion

186

ingrid de smet

demande représentait une infraction à la défense de toute mention de paix avec Henri de Navarre, interdiction prononcée en juin 1590, sous peine de mort. 3 La rébellion fut donc vite et violemment réprimée par les chefs de la Ligue. 4 Il est certain que ce genre de mesures agressives n’adoucit aucunement la perception qu’eurent les protestants et les catholiques modérés des Seize, qui à leurs yeux prolongeaient délibérément la guerre et les troubles qui avaient envahi la France depuis trois décennies, malgré quelques courts épisodes de trêve. 5 En effet, en 1593–94, la Satyre Ménippée, ce célèbre pamphlet anti-ligueur,6 dépeignait les Ligueurs et leurs alliés sans la moindre ambiguïté comme bellicistes et ennemis de la paix, comme de simples marionnettes dont les ficelles furent contrôlées par les Espagnols et la Papauté. Lorsque les satiristes offrent leur propre version des différentes harangues prétendument tenues aux États Généraux de 1593, leur technique préférée est—on le sait—de faire révéler à chaque intervenant ce que, en réalité, il aurait voulu cacher à tout prix (à l’exception, bien sûr, du discours de M. d’Aubray). 7 Ainsi, Charles de Lorraine, duc de Mayenne, avise les membres de l’assemblée ‘[d]es dangers et inconveniens de la paix qui met ordre à tout, et rend le droict à qui il appartient.’ 8 Puis, ‘Monsieur le Legat’, c.-à-d. le cardinal

dans le livre 94 de ses Historiae sui temporis (éd. Th. Carte et S. Buckley [Londres 1733], IV, 872 [= lib. XCIX, V]). 3 Barnavi, Le Parti de Dieu , 203. 4 De Thou, ibid.; Satyre Ménippée de la vertu du Catholicon d’Espagne et de la Tenue des Estatz de Paris , Ch. Marcilly (éd.) (Paris s.d.), p. 118n. 5 Il est à noter que la désignation courante des ‘Seize’ pour indiquer l’ensemble des chefs de la Ligue parisienne impliqua à faux une unité de pensée parmi les ligueurs les plus acharnés. 6 Sur ce texte, voir entre autres F. Lestringant et D. Ménager (éds .), Études sur la Satyre Ménippée, Études de Philologie et d’Histoire 41 (Genève 1987); J.P. Barbier-Mueller, ‘Pour une chronologie des premières éditions de la Satyre ménippée (1593–1594)’, dans Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 67 (2005), 2, 373–393 et la nouvelle édition critique par Martial Martin, Satyre Menippee de la Vertu du Catholicon d’Espagne et de la tenue des Estats de Paris , Textes de la Renaissance 117 / Grands Textes Satyriques (Paris 2007). 7 N. Cazauran, ‘Polémique et comique dans trois harangues de la Satyre Ménippée’, dans Cahiers de l’Association Internationale d’Études Françaises 36 (1984), 111–128 (p. 112). À la différence des autres oraisons parodiques, où règnent l’ironie et l’hyperbole, c’est dans le long discours prêté à M. d’Aubray que l’on trouve le noyau de la doctrine politique de la Satyre Ménippée. Claude d’Aubray (1526–1609) fut secrétaire du roi, prévôt des marchands de Paris (1578–1580) et un politique d’importance. Il fut chassé de la capitale par le Duc de Mayenne. 8 Satyre Ménippée (éd. Martin), 35. Il s’agit, bien sûr, d’une représentation espiègle de la réalité: ‘Ordre, discipline, respect de la hiérarchie—tels sont les remèdes qu’il

autour de la satyre ménippée

187

Morosini, en vient à inciter les catholiques français aux armes: ‘Guerra donque, guerra, ô valenti et magnifici Francezi’ (p. 39)! Ensuite, des mots aussi durs de la part du ‘Cardinal de Pelvé’ (Nicolas de Pellevé, qui devait son chapeau rouge et son archevêché de Reims au Cardinal de Guise9 et qui s’occupait plus des intérêts de Rome que de ceux de la France). Dissertant en Latin, Pelvé déclare: ‘Il ne faut aucunement parler, ni rien écouter d’une paix avec ces damnés Politiques .’10 Le lecteur retrouve encore le même ton dans la ‘Harangue de Monsieur de Lyon’ (Pierre d’Épinac, archevêque de Lyon) qui exprime l’espoir que les Jésuites, ces hommes de paille de l’Espagne, en leurs particulieres confessions [. . .] n’oublient pas de defendre sur peine de damnation eternelle de desirer la paix, et encore plus d’en parler, ains faire opiniastrer les devots Chrestiens au sac, au sang et au feu, plustost que se soubmettre au Biarnois, quand bien il iroit à la Messe, comme il a donné charge à ses ambassadeurs d’en asseurer le Pape. 11

Enfin, le ‘Sieur de Rieux’, délégué pour la noblesse, s’exclame: ‘Vive la guerre, il n’est que d’en avoir, de quelque part qu’il vienne’ (p. 67). Ainsi la Satyre Ménippée illustre on ne peut plus clairement à quel 12 C’est point le fossé s’est creusé entre catholiques et protestants. dans ce contexte de cris de guerre et du rejet absolu de toute négociation, que les auteurs de la Satyre Ménippée nous offrent l’oraison de Guillaume Rose, ancien évêque de Senlis. Dans sa harangue au goût rabelaisien,13 l’ex-grand maître du Collège de Navarre, désormais préconise pour mettre un terme à l’anarchie qui sévit en France’ (Barnavi, Le Parti de Dieu, 202). 9 Barnavi, Le Parti de Dieu , 92. 10 Satyre Ménippée, 43–44: ‘Vos interea hoc tenete firmum: nullo modo esse loquendum aut audiendum de pace facienda cum istis damnatis Politicis, quin potius armate et parate vos ad patiendum omnes extremitates uel etiam mortem, famem, ignem, et ruinam totius urbis uel regni, nihil enim potestis facere gratius et acceptabilius Deo et Regi nostro Philippo Catholicissimo’ [avec ponctuation adaptée]. 11 Satyre Ménippée, 56. ‘Le Biarnois’ (c.-à-d., le Béarnais) désigne Henri de Navarre, devenu Henri IV, roi de France, en 1589. 12 Il faut admettre qu’au moment où la Satyre Ménippée commence à circuler, l’influence de la Ligue amoindrissait, tandis que les prétendus politiques, jusque-là assez isolés, gagnaient de l’appui, voir D. Ménager, ‘Dieu et le roi’, dans Études sur la Satyre Ménippée, Fr. Lestringant et D. Ménager (éds.), 201–226 (p. 201). Les satires ont évidemment tout intérêt à jouer sur les extrêmes et les contrastes. 13 À propos du mélange d’éléments appartenant à la haute culture avec ceux provenant de la culture populaire dans la Satyre Ménippée, voir J. Vignes, ‘Culture et histoire dans la Satyre Ménippée’, dans Études sur la Satyre Ménippée , Lestringant et Ménager (éds.), 151–199 (sur les échos rabelaisiens, voir p. 158 et suiv., n. 11), ainsi que B. Boudou, M. Driol et P. Lambersy, ‘Carnaval et Monde renversée’, ibid., 105–119.

188

ingrid de smet

recteur de l’université, 14 fait l’éloge de l’ignorance qui règne sur la capitale. Car les collèges sont déserts et tous ceux qui s’occupaient d’une manière ou d’une autre de livres, d’instruction ou d’érudition (gens de papier et parchemin ) ont quitté la ville ou essayent de vivre discrètement: Car au lieu que nous soulions veoir tant de fripons, friponniers, juppins, galoches, marmitons, et autres sortes de gens malfaisans, courir le pavé, hanter les bordeaux, tirer la laine, et quereller les rotisseurs de petit pont, vous ne voyez plus personne de telles gens par les Colleges: tous les supposts des facultez et nations, qui tumultuoyent pour les brigues de licences ne paroissent plus: on ne jouë plus de ces jeux scandaleux, et satyres mordantes aux eschaffaux des Colleges, et y voyez une belle reformation, s’estants tous ces jeunes regents retirez, qui vouloyent monstrer à l’envy qu’ils sçavoient plus de Greq et de Latin que les autres: Ces factions de maistresésarts, où l’on se batoit à coups de bourlet, et de chaperon, sont cessees: tous ces escoliers de bonne maison, grands et petits ont faict gille. Les Libraires, imprimeurs, Relieurs, Doreurs, et autres gens de papier, et parchemin, au nombre de plus de trente mil, ont charitablement fendu le vent en cent quartiers pour en vivre, et en ont encore laissé suffisamment pour ceux qui ont demeuré apres eux: Les professeurs publiqs qui estoient tous royaux, et politiques, ne nous viennent plus rompre la teste de leurs harangues, et congregations aux trois Evesques; ils se sont mis à faire l’alquemie chacun chez soy. [. . .] maintenant, par le moyen de vous autres messieurs, et la vertu de la saincte Union, et principalement par vos coups du ciel, Monsieur le Lieutenant, les beurriers et beurrieres de Vanves, les ruffiens de Montrouge, et de Vaugirard, les vignerons de sainct Cloud, les carreleurs de Ville-juifve et autres cantons catholiques, sont devenuz maistres ez arts, bacheliers, principaux, presidents, et boursiers des Colleges, regents des classes, et si arguts philosophes que mieux que Ciceron maintenant il disputent de inventione, et apprennent tous les jours aftodidactos, sans autre precepteur que vous monsieur le Lieutenant, apprenent, dy-je à mourir de faim per regulas.15

Loin est donc le temps où les catholiques pouvaient encore exposer une position intellectuelle, tel Ronsard qui en 1560, dans son Discours

Cazauran, ‘Polémique et comique dans trois harangues’, 125. Satyre Ménippée, 57–58. L’attitude conservatrice, voire rétrograde, prêtée à Guillaume Rose se traduit entre autres par sa référence obstinée aux ‘Trois Evêques’, ancien nom du collège de Cambrai, fondé par Hugues de Pomare, évêque de Langrues, Hugues d’Arcy, évêque de Laon, et Guy d’Aussonne, évêque de Cambrai. Lors de la rédaction de la Satyre Ménippée le site était occupé par le Collège royal de France (fondé en 1529) depuis plus d’un demi-siècle . 14 15

autour de la satyre ménippée

189

à G[uillaume] des-Autels, avait préconisé une véritable bataille de livres dans la lutte contre le mouvement protestant: C’est donques aujourd’hui que les Rois et les Princes N’ont besoin de garder par armes leurs provinces, Et contre leurs sujets opposer le harnois: Mais il faut les garder par livres et par lois Instrumens qui pourront de la tourbe mutine Appaiser le courage et flatter la poitrine: Car il faut desormais defendre nos maisons, Non par le fer trenchant ains par vives raisons, Et d’un cœur courageux nos ennemis abatre Par les mesmes bastons dont ils nous veulent batre. Ainsi que l’ennemy par livres a seduict Le peuple devoyé qui faucement le suit, Il fault en disputant par livres le confondre, Par livres l’assaillir, par livres luy respondre .16

Pourtant, si dans ce texte par trop cité Ronsard oppose encore, de façon traditionnelle, la plume à l’épée, les variantes textuelles montrent que deux ans plus tard seulement le chef de la Pléiade avait tendance à légitimer le recours à la force et aux armes. 17 (Ce changement s’effectue, bien sûr, contre l’arrière-fond de l’organisation de l’armée huguenote, organisation qui commence justement à se mettre en place Satyre au début des années 60). 18 Au moment où les auteurs de la Ménippée dénoncent la vision d’une véritable ‘révolution culturelle’ de la part du recteur Rose, nous avons à faire à un monde bipolaire, où les livres sont eux-mêmes devenus une épée à double tranchant.

16 Ronsard. Œuvres complètes , J. Céard, D. Ménager et M. Simonin (éds.), Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 2 vols (Paris 1994), 2, 1011: Discours à G. Des-Autels, l. 9–22. 17 Voir Ronsard. Œuvres complètes , 2, 1581. En 1562, on lit: ‘C’est donques aujourd’hui que les Roys et les Princes / Ont besoin de garder par armes leurs provinces / Et contre leurs sujets opposer.’ Sur Ronsard et son changement de position, voir aussi H. Weber, La Création poétique au XVI e siècle en France de Maurice Scève à Agrippa d’Aubigné (Paris 1955), 562–565 (p. 563–564). Évidemment, la réécriture à la lumière des développements de l’actualité ne se limite pas à Ronsard; elle se rencontre aussi dans les différentes étapes éditoriales de la Satyre Ménippée, voir C.M. Zsuppán, ‘From Abbrége des Estats to Catholicon d’Espagne: Some Political Transformations of the Satyre ménippée’, dans Forum for Modern Language Studies 21 (1984), 349–361. 18 A. Jouanna, J. Boucher, D. Biloghi et G. Le Thiec, Histoire et dictionnaire des Guerres de religion, Bouquins (Paris 1998), 665–674, art. ‘Armée’ (p. 672).

190

ingrid de smet Les Livres ou l’épée à double tranchant

Je m’explique. La question se résume à celle-ci: comment en est-on venu à construire l’érudition et le savoir comme un champ irénique, l’unique lieu d’où l’on pourrait tirer un remède pour un pays déchiré par les troubles civils et religieux? À vrai dire, la recherche d’une réponse au chaos actuel dans des textes anciens portait depuis longtemps des risques sérieux. Ainsi les Pithœana rapportent combien il avait été malavisé de la part d’Aimar de Ranconnet (1498–1559) de citer un passage de l’auteur ancien Sulpice Sévère pour donner de l’appui à une politique de prudence vis-à-vis des ‘hérétiques’: Ranconnet fut mis en prison, à cause que le Cardinal de Lorraine [Charles de Guise, 1524–1574], voulant reconnaître les opinions de la Cour touchant les punitions des hérétiques, la fit assembler; et là Ranconnet porta Sulpice Sévère, et leur lut le lieu où il est parlé du fait de Trèves de Priscillian en la vie de Saint-Martin. 19

Embastillé, Ranconnet, cet amateur réputé de manuscrits grecs20 et que François Pithou estimait non seulement à l’instar de Turnèbe mais aussi de Cujas et de Scaliger, 21 se suicida quelques mois après son intervention courageuse à la Mercuriale de 1559, c.-à-d. un an avant la composition du Discours à Guillaume des-Autels par Ronsard. Au fur et à mesure que les livres et l’érudition apparaissent dans les récits horrifiques de la Saint Barthélemy, nous voyons qu’ils prennent une signification ambiguë: ainsi les meurtriers du relieur d’or Spire Niquet employèrent des livres qu’ils avaient trouvés dans sa propre maison pour alimenter le feu sur lequel ils le brûlèrent avant de le traîner—demi vif—vers la Seine; 22 la dépouille mutilée de l’humaniste Pierre de la Ramée (Ramus) fut avilie par des ‘escholiers, induits

F. Wild, Naissance du genre des Ana (1574–1712) , Études et essais sur la Renaissance 29 (Paris 2001), 500. Sur Aimar de Ranconnet, voir Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, Gallorum doctrina illustrium, qui nostra patrumque memoria floruerunt Elogia. Recens Aucta et in duos divisa libros quorum alter nunc primum editur (Poitiers 1602), 1, 35–37. 20 P. de Nolhac, Ronsard et l’humanisme (Paris 1921), 343. Turnèbe dédicaça son édition de Sophocle (Paris 1553) à Ranconnet. Voir J. Lewis, Adrien Turnèbe (1512– 1565). A Humanist Observed , Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance 320 (Genève 1998), 187. 21 Wild, Naissance du genre des Ana (1574–1712) , 498 (citant les Pithœana, 491). 22 D. Crouzet, La Nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy: un rêve perdu de la Renaissance , Chroniques (Paris 1994), 44. 19

autour de la satyre ménippée

191

par leurs maistres’; 23 Denis Perrot fut découvert ‘enfermé dans son estude, et priant Dieu’: il y fut tué sur le champ par coups de bâton. 24 Les livres, les cabinets d’étude et les bibliothèques (ces dernières les lieux de l’acquisition même du savoir, et donc les berceaux de l’hétérodoxie) n’apportaient aucun soulagement, aucun asile à ces huguenots infortunés. En revanche, le jeune Maximilien de Béthune (futur duc de Sully) réussit à convaincre le principal du Collège de Bourgogne, Geoffroy de La Faye, de le mettre à l’abri, tandis que Charlotte Arbaleste, future épouse de Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, trouva, pour un temps au moins, de la sécurité dans l’‘estude’ de Jean Tambonneau, sieur Du Bouchet, après avoir dû quitter la maison du sieur de La Perreuze. 25 Citons encore le cas du savant Pierre Pithou, qui deviendrait plus tard un des amis intimes de l’historien et homme d’état Jacques-Auguste de Thou. Pithou échappa à peine aux massacreurs qui étaient entrés dans sa maison, fuyant en chemise par les toits; il se réfugia d’abord chez l’humaniste Nicolas Lefèvre, puis chez le parlementaire Antoine Loisel qui le tint caché jusqu’à la fin de l’année. Les intrus mettaient à sac la belle collection de manuscrits anciens qu’avait rassemblée Pithou. 26 Peu après le pillage de ces précieux documents, Pithou écrivit à Loisel depuis la maison de Lefèvre: Voici, mon cher frère, les débris des trésors qui m’ont appartenu; les embellissements que j’aurois pu y ajouter ont suivi le sort du reste; ils sont devenue [sic] la proie de ceux qui n’en connoissent pas le prix . . . Une prompte mort est le sort le plus heureux que je puisse attendre.] 27

Toutefois, si Pithou imputait la ruine de sa bibliothèque (et de ses rêves d’humaniste) à l’ignorance, il devait sa sécurité personnelle à la loyauté de ses amis, une loyauté qui avait été nourrie par une passion Crouzet, La Nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy , 43. Crouzet, La Nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy , 42. 25 C.-à-d. Christophe Hector de Marle, sieur de (La) Perreuze, conseiller au parlement, puis prévôt des Marchands (1586). La Perreuze, quant à lui, ne réussit à sauvegarder sa propre maison du pillage que grâce à l’intervention de son parent, le Premier Président Christophe de Thou. Plus tard on le considérerait un ennemi de la Ligue. Voir Crouzet, La Nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy , 74–75 et J. Brunel, Un Poitevin poète, humaniste et soldat à l’époque des guerres de religion. Nicolas Rapin (1539–1608). La carrière, les milieux, l’œuvre , 2 vols. (Paris 2002), 1, 414. 26 R. Schnur, Die französischen Juristen im konfessionellen Bürgerkrieg des 16. Jahrhunderts, 31. 27 Cité par Schnur, Die französischen Juristen , 31–32n. d’après Briquet de Ravaux, Éloge de Pierre Pithou (Amsterdam 1778). C’est nous qui soulignons. 23 24

192

ingrid de smet

commune et de longue date pour tout ce qui concernait le savoir et les belles lettres. C’est dans cette double perspective de livres et de bibliothèques, comme suspects pour les uns et salutaires pour les autres, que nous devons placer la fameuse anecdote du Premier Président Christophe de Thou et sa lecture des Sylves de Stace dans le sillage de la Saint Barthélemy. Car Jacques-Auguste de Thou (écrivant en 1614) raconte, on le sait bien, dans ses Mémoires que son père avait marqué un certain passage dans son exemplaire des Sylves comme étant approprié à ‘ce jour fatal’. Le passage lui-même est cité, non dans les Mémoires, mais dans les Historiae sui temporis de De Thou, dans son récit on ne peut plus controversé de la Saint-Barthélemy: Excidat illa dies aevo, nec postera credant Saecula, nos certe taceamus; et obruta multa Nocte tegi propriae patiamur crimina gentis. Que ce jour disparaisse de notre ère, que les siècles à venir n’y croient pas. Taisons-nous au moins à ce propos, et supportons que les crimes de notre propre peuple soient recelés et couverts d’une nuit profonde.

La note marginale, suggère l’historien, indiquait que Christophe de Thou désirait commettre l’épisode tout entier à l’oubli; la scolie était donc un signe du dégoût du Président vis-à-vis de ces événements dans lesquels il était censé avoir joué un rôle décisif. 28 Cependant et paradoxalement, c’est à travers cette association avec l’extrait statien que la damnatio memoriae envisagée par le père est commise à la mémoire par le fils, qui non seulement préservait au profit des générations futures le livre annoté par son père dans sa fameuse Bibliotheca Thuana (le livre physique en un lieu physique) mais qui pérennisait encore ce désir d’amnésie (ou d’amnistie) dans le texte durable des

La Vie de Jacques-Auguste de Thou. I. Aug. Thuani vita, A. Teissier-Ensminger (éd.), Textes de la Renaissance 126 (Paris 2007), 1, 5, 12–13 (248–250): ‘Certe pater eius, cuius si uestigiis insistat filius, satis se in pietate et publica re tractanda sapere arbitratur, tantopere ea detestatus est, ut cum post casum Statii Papinii Syluas legeret et in locum in Annalibus memoratum incidisset, ad libri marginem diem S. Bartholomaei adscripserit, charactere peculiari sibi sed eleganti, et satis ex archiuis Curiae noto. Atque is liber in Iacobi Augusti bibliotheca propterea asservatur ut fidem contra calumnias faciat, qui uiri optimi hac de re sensus fuerit.’ Plusieurs historiens se sont interrogés sur cet épisode: voir notamment Crouzet, La Nuit de la Saint-Barthélemy , 377; S. Daubresse, ‘Christophe de Thou et Charles IX: Recherches sur les Rapports entre le Parlement de Paris et le Prince (1560–1574)’, dans Histoire, économie et société 17/3 (1998), 389–422 (p. 418). 28

autour de la satyre ménippée

193

Commentarii de sua vita ainsi que dans celui des Historiae sui temporis. Un moment passager d’une lecture privée, peut-être subreptice, est ainsi élevé en un commentaire public de signifiance historique et de longue durée. Plus que son père, même si celui fut fort instruit, c’est JacquesAuguste de Thou lui-même qui construisit ses lectures et ses études comme une panacée contre les incertitudes de la guerre. Ainsi, pour ne citer qu’un seul exemple parmi plusieurs, Jacques-Auguste déclare, toujours dans ses Commentarii, qu’en 1585 il s’occupait de poésie religieuse et de mathématique pour ‘se munir de constance contre la calamité publique’ et pour ‘offrir quelque joie à son âme souffrante’.29 Cette attitude ressemble de beaucoup celle de l’humaniste et poète Jacques Peletier du Mans (1517–1582), qui pendant un certain temps enseignait la mathématique à l’université de Poitiers en 1579. Dans son discours inaugural, Peletier déclara justement qu’en plein milieu des troubles civils, il se consolait par la préparation d’un nouveau commentaire sur Euclide. 30 Un cas analogue est transmis au sujet de Nicolas Lefèvre, ami non seulement de Pithou mais aussi de JacquesAuguste de Thou. Selon la biographie écrite au dix-septième siècle par Charles Perrault, Lefèvre se concentra avec beaucoup de succès sur des problèmes de mathématique ‘pour détourner son esprit des chagrins où le mettaient les terribles troubles de la Ligue.’ 31 Quoiqu’il en soit, lorsque la Ligue renforça sa prise sur la capitale le jour des Barricades (le 12 mai 1588), De Thou dut s’échapper de Paris,

29 La Vie de Jacques-Auguste de Thou. I. Aug. Thuani vita, Teissier-Ensminger (éd.), 3, 2, 26 (p. 568). Voir aussi mon étude ‘La Poésie sur le fumier: la Figure de Job à l’époque des Guerres de Religion’, dans C. Magnien-Simonin et I. De Smet (éds.), Jacques-Auguste de Thou: Écriture et condition robine, Cahiers V.L. Saulnier 24 (Paris 2007), 98–106 (101, n. 55). 30 Jacobi Peletarii Medici et Mathematici oratio Pictavii habita in praelectiones Mathematicas (Pictavii: ex officina Bochetorum, 1579), reproduite par P. Laumonier, ‘Un discours inédit de Jacques Peletier du Mans’, dans Revue de la Renaissance 4 (1904), 5, 281–303 (p. 285): ‘Quid multa? dum Gallia tota exardescit, dum improbi dominantur, dum latrones sua scelera suasque cædes exercent, denique dum, ut in versibus nostris cecinimus, Colludunt leges armis, atque arma vicissim Legibus illudunt, aequis utrinque rapinis, in otium me abdidi, totumque me ad scribendum contuli: nisi siquando me amicorum flagitationes ad Medicinæ factionem avocarent. Quo in recessu nihil prius faciendum esse existimavi, quam ut Euclidem meum absolverem [. . .].’ 31 Charles Perrault. Les Hommes Illustres qui ont paru en France pendant ce siècle. Avec leurs portraits au naturel , D.J. Culpin (éd.), Biblio 17, 142 (Tübingen 2003), 389.

194

ingrid de smet

abandonnant sa maison et une bonne partie de sa bibliothèque au péril des meutes pillardes. Pithou, par contre, (depuis longtemps converti au catholicisme mais sans zèle) fut retenu dans la ville par ses livres (ainsi que par son épouse et leurs enfants). Cependant, il ne sortait que rarement en public et ‘se renfermait dans sa bibliothèque.’ 32 Ceci dit, il prêta service à son roi et à la paix, prenant part à la composition de la Satyre Menippée, en tant qu’auteur du discours de M. d’Aubray, représentant du Tiers État. 33 En effet, sous la plume de Pithou, d’Aubray adopte un ton rationnel et un style de grand raffinement oratoire, déplorant la condition misérable de Paris sous la Ligue, la Ligue qui a profané les vénérables institutions de l’enseignement et du savoir: Fut-il jamais barbarie ou cruauté pareille à celle que nous avons veuë et enduree? Fut-il jamais tyrannie et domination pareille à celle que nous voyons et endurons? Où est l’honneur de nostre Université? où sont les colleges? où sont les escholiers? où sont les leçons publiques où l’on accouroit de toutes les partz du monde? où sont les religieux estudiants aux couvents? ils ont pris les armes; les voila tous soldats debauchez. . . .34

La ‘Paix’ de Florent Chrestien, les ‘Ruses de guerre’ d’Isaac Casaubon, et les ‘Prosopopées’ de Théodore Marcile Or, l’on dit que la Satyre Ménippée fut plus utile à Henri IV que la bataille d’Ivry, démontrant que la plume vaut plus que le glaive. Mais la notion de la lecture que nous glanons d’un Christophe de Thou griffonnant dans les marges de son Stace dans les années 1570, de son fils Jacques-Auguste courbé au dessus de ses paraphrases bibliques et ses livres de mathématique au cours des années 1580, ou encore d’un Pierre Pithou se renfermant dans son cabinet dans les années 1590, indique que la lecture fut souvent imprégnée de connotations consolatrices ou palliatives, qu’elle servait d’antidote ou d’exutoire psychologique. De la sorte, la lecture s’avère souvent une réponse de l’individu honnête et probe qui recule d’horreur devant l’incontrôlable

32 P. Pithoei vita, 6 (dans De Thou, Historiae, éd. Carte et Buckley, 7, 11): ‘Pithoeus illo tempore uxorem in Urbe, et liberos, et bibliothecam omni librorum genere instructam habebat. Iis vinculis constrictus, mansit apud seditiosos, homo minime seditiosus. [. . .] rarus per ea tempora exibat in publicum; nec fere in forum nisi palliatus veniebat. Reliquum omne tempus libris impendebat, museo inclusus.’ 33 Ibid., 7. 34 Satyre Ménippée, 77.

autour de la satyre ménippée

195

marée des émeutes civiles et qui se retire dans la carapace de sa bibliothèque privée. Toutefois, il existe aussi des cas où la lecture et l’étude s’avèrent consciemment comme un champ d’action publique, même si c’est toujours dans un contexte d’irénisme. Un exemple éloquent de cette pratique nous est fourni par le protestant Florent Chrestien qui, à la fin des années 1580, projetait ses lectures comme un instrument de propagande pour la paix: en effet, de toutes les comédies d’Aristophane, Chrestien choisit de commenter et de traduire en latin celle qui portait le titre Εἰρήνη, ou Pax (‘La Paix’).35 Il reste vrai que la Pax n’est pas la seule pièce aristophanesque à traiter le thème de la paix; 36 qui plus est, la notion de paix que propose Aristophane en est une de la Paix comme porteuse d’une abondance agricole—et cette notion n’était pas de premier plan dans l’imaginaire relatif à la paix dans la seconde moitié du seizième siècle français. En fait, James Hutton a démontré que l’Eloge de la paix à Pierre de Ronsard de Guillaume des Autels fut un rare exemple de l’influence qu’exerça la pièce d’Aristophane sur les poésies de la paix de la Renaissance française.37 Si donc le texte ou le contenu de la comédie aristophanesque proposait fort peu en matière de solutions ou de théories pour l’état actuel de guerre et d’agitation sociale, il est clair que Chrestien compte sur la valeur épidictique du titre: ainsi le livre lui-même se campe en message de paix, tandis que les activités érudites de commentaire et de traduction auxquelles Chrestien assujettit le texte, concrétisent l’alternatif proposé par l’humaniste à la guerre. Ce message est souligné de façon explicite par plusieurs des textes liminaires qui sont inclus dans l’édition bilingue et annotée. Le premier est une poésie en grec de la main du poète royal Jean Dorat. Le poète y lie la traduction latine de Chrestien à un message chrétien

35 Q. Septimii Florentis Christiani in Aristophanis Irenam vel Pacem Commentaria Glossemata. . . . Cum Latina Graeci Dramatis interpretatione . . . (Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1589). À propos de Chrestien, voir M. Mund-Dopchie, La Survie d’Eschyle à la Renaissance. Éditions, traductions, commentaires et imitations (Louvain 1984), ch. 12 : ‘Les Sept contre Thèbes de Florent Chrestien (1585)’, et H. Cazès, art. ‘Chrestien (Florent) (1541–1596)’, dans C. Nativel, C. Magnien, M. Magnien, P. Maréchaux et I. Pantin (éds.), Centuriae Latinae II: Cent une figures humanistes de la Renaissance aux Lumières. À la mémoire de Marie-Madeleine de La Garanderie, Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance 414 (Genève 2006), 211–220. 36 J. Hutton, Themes of Peace, 23. 37 J. Hutton, Essays on Renaissance Poetry , éd. R. Guerlac, avec préface de D.P. Walker (Ithaca-Londres 1980), 231–233 (‘Classical Poetry in Renaissance Poems on Peace’).

196

ingrid de smet

universel (c.-à-d. une chrétienté qui transcende la division entre catholiques et protestants) mais qui constitue aussi un calembour sur le surnom du traducteur: Εἰρήνην δεῖ Χριστιανοῖς μεμενῆσθαι ἁπασιν, εἰμι γὰρ Εἰρήνη κ’αὐτὸς ὁ Χριστὸς ἔφη.38

Tous les Chrétiens devraient se souvenir de la Paix, car le Christ lui-même a déclaré: ‘Je suis la Paix’.

En plus, Dorat présente l’œuvre de son ancien élève comme étant appropriée ‘à ces temps troublés par la guerre’ ( ἐν παρεόντι χρόνῳ τῷ πολεμοθορύβῳ). La même idée revient d’ailleurs dans la poésie grecque de Louis Servin ajoutée à la fin du volume (p. 142): Φαίνετ’ ’Αριστοφάνης Κέλτοις πάντεσσιν ἄριστος· Εἰρήνην γε ποιῶν ἐκ τραχέος πολέμου.

Aristophane paraît le plus bénéfique pour tous les Gaulois [= Français], Puisque d’une guerre dure il fait [= compose] la paix.

Mais ce qui est encore plus révélateur, c’est l’épître dédicatoire du traducteur et commentateur lui-même, car Chrestien dédie ses propres travaux d’érudition à l’érudit robin Jacques-Auguste de Thou, déjà qualifié par Dorat de φιλόμουσος et φιλείρηνος, ‘un ami tant des Muses que de la paix’. Chrestien associe expressément—et de façon publique—les talents requis de l’homme d’état aux belles lettres: Nam virtutes rerum gerendarum et scribendarum pariter aestimandas duco, nedum dissociandas: neque is ego sum qui Homerum tanti non aestimem quanti Achillem, cum sciam à celata virtute parum distaresepultam inertiam, et recte Democritus censuerit Λόγον esse ἔργου σκιάν. Car je pense que les vertus de la gestion et de l’écriture doivent être évaluées de façon pareille, et en effet qu’elles ne devraient pas être séparées: je ne suis pas tel homme à apprécier Homère moins qu’Achille, sachant que ‘dans la tombe, la vertu dissimulée est à peu de distance de la poltronnerie’ (cf. Horace, Odes 4, 9, 29) et que Démocrite avait raison d’estimer que la parole est l’ombre de l’acte.

Ayant ainsi déclaré que les poètes et les orateurs ont leur rôle à jouer, autant que les hommes d’action, Chrestien déplore les conditions actuelles par lesquelles ceux qui font la guerre n’entendent plus les belles lettres et vice-versa; pourtant, lui-même se sent de plus en plus attiré par la poursuite de la gloire à travers l’érudition: 38

La poésie de Dorat se trouve au verso de la page du titre.

autour de la satyre ménippée

197

Nunc eo devenimus, ut et litteras scire milites metuant, et litterati homines arma tractare nesciant, vel si sciant non perinde existimentur. Et tamen quicquid aut illi gerunt aut isti scribunt pulcrae laudis amore incensi faciunt, et famae quaerendi studio, nisi penitus ab iis exsulatum ivit animi nobilitas. In ista gente nunquam me puduit nomen profiteri meum, et quotidie magis magisque adducor ut in litterario exercitu laudis stipendia meream. Nous en sommes arrivés à ce point où les hommes militaires ont peur de connaître les belles lettres, et que les hommes lettrés ne savent pas se servir des armes. Ou bien, s’ils le savent, ils n’en tirent pas grand honneur. Et pourtant, quoi que les premiers réalisent ou que ces derniers écrivent, ils le font par amour du louange, et parce qu’ils cherchent la gloire, si la noblesse d’âme ne leur a pas tout à fait abandonnés. Je n’ai jamais eu honte de proclamer mon nom parmi ceux-ci, et chaque jour je me sens plus attiré par l’idée de m’engager dans l’armée des lettrés.

Ainsi, Chrestien se transforme de soldat lettré en un lettré militant. Son trajectoire s’oppose donc à celui qu’envisagea, presque un demisiècle plus tôt, la fameuse lettre (fictive, évidemment) de Gargantua à Pantagruel, où le père désira que son fils, une fois adulte, sortît ‘de ceste tranquillité et repos d’estude’ et qu’il apprît ‘la chevalerie, et les armes pour defendre [s]a maison, et [leurs] amys secourir en tous leurs affaires contre les assaulx des mal faisans.’39 De surcroît, Chrestien prétend suivre en ceci l’exemple de son dédicataire, Jacques-Auguste de Thou, en évoquant les deux poésies les plus importantes du magistrat, à savoir le Hieracosophion et la Constantia (la paraphrase biblique du Livre de Job, le Iobus). Effectivement, De Thou avait présenté ces deux poésies et le processus même de leur composition comme une réponse à l’instabilité nationale, comme un refus de s’engager dans le conflit, y inclus au niveau politique. 40 Si l’épître dédicatoire de Chrestien traite ensuite de questions de mécénat et de critique littéraire, le lexique et le thème de la première partie témoignent assez de la différenciation progressive entre les deux types de la noblesse, c.-à-d. entre celui, guerrier, de la noblesse d’épée et celui, livresque, de la noblesse de robe. 41

39 Rabelais. Pantagruel, F. Joukovsky (éd.) (Paris 1993), ch. 8: ‘Comment Pantagruel estant à Paris receut lettres de son pere Gargantua, et copie d’icelles’, 63–68 (p. 67). 40 Voir I. De Smet, ‘Going Public: Rewriting and Self-Fashioning in the Poetry of Jacques-Auguste de Thou’, dans D. Lee Rubin (éd.), Strategic Rewriting, EMF—Studies in Early Modern France 8 (Charlottesville, Virg. 2002), 25–42. 41 Voir entre autres A. Jouanna, ‘La Noblesse fran Çaise et les valeurs guerrières au XVIe siècle’, dans G.-A. Pérouse et A. Thierry (éds.), L’Homme de guerre au XVIe siècle: actes du colloque de l’Association RHR, Cannes 1989 (Saint-Etienne 1992), 205–217.

198

ingrid de smet

La ‘défection’ de Chrestien fut sans doute plus oratoire qu’existentielle.42 Une simple comparaison avec l’édition princeps des Stratagemata ou Ruses de guerre de Polyen, édition établie par Isaac Casaubon en cette même période 1589, montre que cet helléniste joua tout aussi habilement des mêmes lieux communs pour justifier la dédicace de ses travaux intellectuels, sur une œuvre militaire cette fois-ci, à Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, ce coreligionnaire et polémiste au service de Navarre, cet homme de guerre; car Duplessis ‘seul presque parmi toute la noblesse française joignai[t] de façon sérieuse le culte des Muses à celui de Mars’ ( unicus paene ex omni nobilitate Gallica, qui studia Musarum cum Marte serio conjunxisti ).43 Pourtant, dans l’un et l’autre cas, les épîtres dédicatoires érigent l’occupation privée de l’érudit ou de l’écrivain en une annonce publique de désaccord voire de refus dans le domaine politique ou militaire. De la sorte, il est peu surprenant que Florent Chrestien, cette nouvelle recrue de ‘l’armée littéraire’ (literarius exercitus) dût bientôt prêter sa plume à la Satyre Ménippée, en tant qu’auteur de la harangue du Cardinal de Pelvé. Quant à Isaac Casaubon, l’on sait que par l’intermédiaire de Jacques-Auguste de Thou lui aussi finit par rejoindre le cercle des robins érudits à Paris. L’érudition continuait d’ailleurs à montrer le chemin de la paix, même après que Paris fut délivré de l’emprise de la Ligue. En effet, en l’été de 1596, peu avant sa mort, Pierre Pithou devrait encore situer son édition princeps du fabuliste Phèdre dans le contexte des désordres, en terminant ainsi la lettre dédicatoire à son frère François depuis leur ville natale de Troyes: ‘Have, mi frater, et inter istam publicam luem salve ac vale’ ( Je te salue, mon frère: tiens-toi sain et sauf en ces malheurs publics).44

Voir aussi Cazès, art. ‘Chrestien (Florent) (1541–1596)’. Isaac Casaubon à Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, le 1 er décembre 1588, dans Polyænus, Macedo, Rhetor. Stratagematum Libri octo, ab Isaaco Casaubono Græce nunc primum editi, emendati, et notis illustrati, cum ejusdem Epistola ad Philippum Mornaium. Adjecta est Justi Vulteii Versio Latina, cum indicibus (Lyon: Jean de Tournes, 1589). Nous citons la lettre d’après B. Botfield, Praefationes et epistolae editionibus principibus auctorum veterum praepositae (Cambridge 1861), 617–620 [version électronique consultable sur le site de l’Universitätsbibliothek Innsbruck, UBI-HB 253110]. 44 Pierre Pithou à François Pithou, Troyes, 23 août, rebus prolatis, 1596, dans Phaedrus Augusti Libertus, Thrax. Fabularum Aesopiarum libri V. nunc primum in lucem editi, cura Petri Pithoei, cum ejusdem Epistola ad Franciscum Fratrem (Troyes: Jean Odot, 1596). Cité d’après Botfield, Praefationes et epistolae , 627–628. L’édition comporte aussi une poésie liminaire de Florent Chrestien. 42 43

autour de la satyre ménippée

199

À Paris, par contre, au début de cette même année, le professeur d’éloquence latine au Collège Royal, Théodore Marcile,45 publia cinq courtes oraisons prêtées aux figures de Mars (la guerre), Justice, la Paix, Minerve (l’érudition), et Francia (la France). 46 Il va sans dire que cette petite série de prosopopées ne fut aucunement à la hauteur des harangues de la Satyre Ménippée; le texte de Marcile n’était peut-être rien d’autre qu’un écrit d’occasion ou un simple exercice de rhétorique. Toutefois, du fait que dans ce pamphlet la paix retrouve sa propre voix, Marcile rappelle à ses lecteurs cette autre prosopopée, célèbre et audacieuse, c.-à-d. la Querela Pacis d’Érasme. À cette différence-ci, que chez Marcile, la Paix ne peut plus fixer son espoir sur la religion comme ‘l’ancre de salut’ ( una ueluti sacra ancora Religio ),47 parce que, évidemment, la religion était désormais elle-même la cause de tant de disputes, d’actes cruels, de guerre enfin. Il ne reste donc que la route de l’érudition et de la solidarité qui en résulte. En effet, il est indicatif du changement dans le climat politique et dans la perception de la voie à poursuivre, que chez Marcile Minerve prend sa place d’égale aux côtés du couple traditionnel de Justice et Paix, cette syzygie allégorique que les politiques avaient depuis longtemps assimilée dans leur iconographie.48 Les personnifications moralisantes de Théodore Marcile traduisent ainsi l’esprit du temps, puisque ‘Francia’ (France) est dissuadée d’aller à la requête de trophées de guerre, et qu’elle finit par suivre non

Pithœana (éd. 1740), p. 493, cité par F. Wild, Naissance du genre des Ana , 500n (à propos des Pithoeana: ibid., 493–500). Marcile entraîna, parmi d’autres, les fils du robin Claude Dupuy en rhétorique (N. Rigault, Viri eximii Petri Puteani Vita (Paris 1652), 14). Voir aussi C. Mouchel, ‘Théodore Marcile et le cicéronianisme à l’université de Paris sous le règne d’Henri III’, dans Nouvelle Revue du Seizième Siècle 8 (1990), 51–62. 46 T. Marcile, Historia Strenarum, Orationibus adversariis explicata, & carmine. Item Prosopopoeïae sive ἐμψύχοι λόγοι Martis, Justitiae, Pacis, Minervae, et Franciae (Paris 1596). 47 L.-E. Halkin, ‘Érasme, la guerre et la paix’, dans L.-E. Halkin, Érasme: sa pensée et son comportement (Londres 1988), ch. 15 (= réimpr. de Krieg und Frieden im Horizont des Renaissancehumanismus [Weinheim 1986], 13–44). Pour le texte, voir http://potpourri.fltr.ucl.ac.be/files/AClassFTP/Textes/Erasme/querela_pacis_ref.txt. 48 Sur l’iconographie de la Justice et de la Paix dans la France renaissante, voir G. Bresc-Bautier, ‘Justice et Paix: Le tombeau de Christophe de Thou par Barthélemy Prieur’, dans Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France 1 (1981), 10–18. Notons que Justice et Paix figurent aussi dans la pièce Parabata vinctus de J.-A. de Thou (composée en 1592; publiée en 1595 et 1599), dans la scène où St Michel crucifie Lucifer, ange déchu et symbole du mal; cependant, la Paix y est un personnage muet (MundDopchie, La Survie d’Eschyle à la Renaissance , 335). 45

200

ingrid de smet

seulement ‘Pax’, la Paix, fille de Jupiter et d’Astrée, mais aussi (et c’est bien significatif ) Minerve. Et ‘Francia’ de conclure: Dilaudat mihi se Mars glorius, & quasi merces Institor exponens, iactat sua praemia Mavors Quae mihi se dare semper ait. Iovis incluta vero Filia, et Astreae, terram caelumque potenter Quae regit, & lances quae momine temperat aequo Laetitiaeque datrix Pax, et Tritonia Pallas, Dissuadent, Martemque iubent procul esse profanum. [. . .] O mihi multum semper amatae Iustitia et Pax et sapiens fortisque Minerva, Exarmate prius peregrinum, postmodo nostrum Obsecro vos Martem [. . .] Mars le Glorieux me fait ses éloges, et comme un boutiquier qui étale ses marchandises, il se vante des primes qu’il m’offrira (ainsi dit-il) en perpétuité. Mais la célèbre fille de Jupiter et d’Astrée (Astrée qui règne en plein pouvoir sur la terre et sur les cieux, et qui balance la bascule avec des poids égaux), la Paix, qui donne le bonheur, et Pallas la Tritonienne49 me détournent, et commandent à Mars, cet impie, de se tenir lointain. [. . .] O Justice et Paix, vous que j’ai toujours beaucoup aimées, et Minerve sage et forte, désarmez ( je vous supplie) le dieu de la guerre, d’abord celui à l’étranger, et puis celui qui habite parmi nous [. . .]

Conclusion Avec les prosopopées de Marcile nous ne sommes qu’à deux ans de l’Édit de Nantes de 1598. Il est certes impossible d’arpenter de façon précise l’influence et l’impact de la lecture érudite sur le processus d’apaisement qui devrait conclure, du moins pour quelques années, presque quarante ans de Guerres de religion. En plus, le décalage entre la parole et l’acte est de tous les temps: n’oublions donc pas que Marcile, ce savant hollandais, ce catholique domicilié à Paris, eut beau se cantonner en champion de la paix; cela ne l’empêcha guère de se quereller avec Joseph Scaliger, ce savant français et protestant tenace, qui s’était installé en Hollande comme ‘dans un port plus calme’ (pour citer la lettre manuscrite de Dominique Baudier à Jacques-Auguste de

49 Tritonia Pallas: cf. Virgile, Enéide, 5, 704. Selon la mythologie gréco-égyptienne, Minerve (Pallas Athène) naquit sur les bords du lac Triton, en Afrique.

autour de la satyre ménippée

201

Thou du mois de juillet 1593), ‘tant que sévissent ces troubles fatals’. 50 Toutefois, l’on ne peut nier l’importance croissante du savoir livresque qui se mit dans la balance contre les attitudes belliqueuses qu’on attribue qui aux Huguenots, qui aux catholiques, qui à la Ligue. Au fur et à mesure que se déferlèrent les Guerres de Religion, la paix fit entendre sa voix, à travers la correspondance érudite, certes, mais surtout à travers ce qu’Érasme avait appelé les muti magistri, ces maîtres silencieux: les livres.

50 Dominique Baudier à Jacques-Auguste de Thou, Tours, 8 juillet 1593, ms. Waller, Uppsala (http://waller.ub.uu.se/images/Waller_Ms_benl/00034/f_001a.jpg), v o.

TOPICAL MATTERS IN DEDICATORY LETTERS OF LATIN PLAYS IN THE EARLY MODERN NETHERLANDS Jan Bloemendal (The Hague-Amsterdam)* Letters of dedication are a specific form of correspondence, added as a paratext to another text. 1 This affects the rhetoric and pragmatics of letter writing.2 The dedication itself is very old. In Antiquity poets dedicated their works to their patrons: Vergil and Horace to Maecenas, whom we might consider Augustus’ minister of cultural affairs, Lucretius to Memmius, and Cicero to Brutus, to mention only a few authors and dedicatees.3 This dedication was incorporated in the texts proper. In late Antiquity the practice continued, but its character changed: the dedication became a separate letter apart from the text proper. In the fifteenth century the dedication made a comeback in the shape that it had reached in late Antiquity: as a separate letter. Late medieval and early modern authors often added letters of dedication to the manuscripts they sent to their patrons, usually hoping for some financial reward or support in the future, or expressing gratitude for benefices granted to them. 4 The introduction of movable type made it * This paper was written within the scope of the Vidi-Project ‘Latin and Vernacular Cultures’, funded by the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). I wish to thank Gerard Huijing and Paul Arblaster for correcting my English. 1 On the concept of paratext, see G. Genette, Seuils (Paris 1987), English translation: Paratexts. Thresholds of Interpretation, tr. J.E. Lewin (Cambridge 1997). 2 On self-presentation, the rhetoric and pragmatics of letter writing, see T. Van Houdt, J. Papy, G. Tournoy, and C. Matheeussen (eds), Self-presentation and Social Identification. The Rhetoric and Pragmatics of Letter Writing in Early Modern Times, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 18 (Leuven 2002). 3 See, e.g., T. Janson, Latin Prose Prefaces. Studies in Literary Conventions , Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Studia Latina Stockholmiensia 13 (Stockholm etc. 1964); J. Ruppert, Quaestiones ad dedicationes librorum pertinentes (Leipzig 1911). 4 On the dedication in the Early Modern period, see W. Leiner, Der Widmungsbrief in der französischen Literatur (1580–1715) (Heidelberg 1965); U. Maché, ‘Author and Patron: On the Function of Dedications in Seventeenth-Century German Literature’, in J.A. Parente, Jr., R.E. Schade, and G.C. Schoolfield (eds), Literary Culture in the Holy Roman Empire, 1555–1720 (Chapel Hill-London 1991), 195–205; K. Schottenloher, Die Widmungsvorrede im Buch des 16. Jahrhunderts , Reformationsgeschichtliche Studien und Texte (Münster 1953), 76–77; S. Stegeman, Patronage en dienstverlening. Het netwerk van Theodorus Janssonius van Almeloveen (1657–1712) in de Republiek der Letteren (Nijmegen 1996), 187–194, now available as Patronage and Services in the Republic of Letters. The Network of Theodorus Janssonius van Almeloveen (1657–1712),

204

jan bloemendal

possible to distribute books on a larger scale, consequently it became the more attractive to print a letter of dedication. The name of the person to whom the book was dedicated appeared in huge capitals immediately after the title page and the fame of the patron was disseminated through hundreds of copies. The conviction that the literary work had a value for eternity and that it would bring eternal fame to the persons connected with it, the author and the dedicatee, contributed to the spread of this phenomenon. Dignitaries, administrators, rulers, monarchs accepted these dedications willingly because it brought them some fame and a reputation as Maecenases. For the authors such a dedication was attractive for it could bring the immediate advantage of a very generous amount of money, and the illustrious name of the dedicatee would add to the prestige or in some cases guarantee the protection of the work and its author. In some instances the dedicatee was, so to speak, an indication for the political or religious position of the author and his work. In all this the Northern Netherlands had a special position in the European context because in the Republic, with no monarch and the nobility playing little part as patrons of the arts and sciences, many works were dedicated to public bodies and their members: municipal magistrates, the States, colleges of curators, and so forth. In the Southern Netherlands a court culture did exist, but there the clerical hierarchy played an important role in literary life as well, and hence works were often dedicated to bishops, canons and the like. Authors could dedicate their work for the sake of patronage, but also to seek or confirm friendship. The distinction between these two was made in contemporary literature—and also in the dedications themselves, as we will see—in which the dedication for friendship enjoyed a higher moral esteem. But in that case we have to bear in mind that friendship was not always as personal as it is regarded now, and that the aspect of benefit plays an important role. The dedication was mostly written in prose, even when attached to a poem, and had many formal elements: the dedicatee was praised according to the rules of rhetoric, the dedication expatiated on his titles and his dignity, the author presented the quality of the work with due modesty, and he often apologised for his humble position or translation M. Kelly et al., Studies van het Instituut Pierre Bayle voor Intellectuele Betrekkingen tussen de Westeuropese Landen in de Nieuwe Tijd, 33 (Amsterdam 2005); P.J. Verkruijsse, ‘Holland “gedediceerd”. Boekopdrachten in Holland in de 17e eeuw’, in Holland 23 (1991), 225–242.

topical

matters in dedicatory letters of latin plays

205

his lack of experience, he himself or his work being unworthy of the high patronage. Often the authors also discussed the content of their work, so that the letter became a preface, too. 5 Generally the style was lofty, suited to the status of the patron. All the formal elements did not necessarily exclude the writer from adopting a personal tone. The prefatory nature of the letter of dedication also gives it special characteristics. It addresses one person in particular, but through him (or occasionally her), the general reader is also addressed, and thus it is as it were an ‘open letter’, contrary to most other, confidential letters. Since the letter was written to be published, there was no need to add an epistolary coda, as was often done with personal letters, asking the recipient not to divulge the contents. One may even say that it is not the dedicatee who is addressed, but the general reader. It may even be open to question if the dedication was ever read by the dedicatee, or if this dignitary only read his own name in capitals, and the first lines, but these are mere speculations. This problematic character makes the letter of dedication by definition part of the public sphere in which authors may express their views but have to be cautious and must steer a course between the Scylla of their own views and the Charybdis of ‘public opinion’ and possible repercussions they might have to fear. These restrictions they imposed on themselves make it somehow more problematic to assess the discrepancy between their private views and what they said in public. On the other hand one would expect that topical matters—by which I mean the news of the day—would be alluded to in the letters of dedications, since they were attached to biblical or historical plays in times of trouble: the reform movements ‘divided Europe’s house’ 6 and this, combined with political and economic factors, led to the revolt and the ensuing war of independence in the Netherlands and to religious wars in Germany and France. Dedicatory letters were also added to published Latin plays of the early modern period.7 These plays can be classed in two groups: the plays 5 On the distinction between dedication and preface, see Genette, Seuils, 182–183; Genette, Paratexts, 196–197. He argues that a preface concentrates on ‘comment’ (how) and a dedication on ‘pourquoi’ (why). In the early modern period this distinction is less clear than in Genette’s material. 6 D. MacCulloch, Reformation. Europe’s House Divided, 1490–1700 (London 2003). 7 On dedications to Latin plays, see J. Bloemendal, ‘Schrijvers, drukkers en gededicaceerden in het Latijnstalige toneel’, http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/sph/acta/bloemendal .pdf and Idem, ‘ “To the benevolent reader.” Dedications to Editions of Latin Plays in

206

jan bloemendal

written for the schools, most of which were written on biblical themes, and the university plays, some of which had religious, others topical or political matters as their subjects. Guilielmus Gnapheus or Willem de Volder of The Hague (1493–1568) was one of the authors of those school dramas. He wrote the most popular and most famous Latin drama of his times on the story of the Prodigal Son, the Acolastus, printed in 1529.8 It attracted scholars and schoolmen of all denominations, although it was well known that the author had been imprisoned—in 1523 and 1525—for his Lutheran sympathies. His own, somewhat ironic, account of the affair was that during Lent a poor, pregnant woman had found a slice of sausage by his fireplace, and had put it into a pot of peas. In the letter of dedication to his report of the martyrdom of the Protestant Jan de Bakker, Ioannis Pistorii martyrium, he wrote: ‘This matter weighed so heavily with the Stadholder and the whole Council that for two days they neglected the affairs of the whole state in order to hold a consultation about this sausage. Doctors of medicine were called in and questioned whether it were natural that pregnant women should have a craving for flesh during Lent.’9 He left Holland in 1528 and went to Elbing, where eight years later, in 1536, he became rector of a newly founded Latin school. He got into trouble with the bishop there and left for Königsberg, where in 1544 Duke Albert appointed him arch-pedagogue of the University. He was an overt Lutheran, although he did not himself publish his

the Netherlands of the 16th and 17th Century—Forms, Functions and Religious Standpoints’, in I. Bossuyt, N. Gabriëls, D. Sacré, and D. Verbeke (eds), “Cui dono lepidum novum libellum? ” Dedicating Latin Works and Motets in the Sixteenth Century , Proceedings of the International Conference held at the Academia Belgica, Rome, 18–20 August 2005, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 23 (Leuven 2008), 107–126. 8 On Gnapheus most recently: Bio-bibliographisches Kirchen-Lexikon 2, 256–257 (F.W. Bautz) and Biografisch Lexicon voor de Geschiedenis van het Nederlands Protestantisme 4, 142–144 (J. Trapman and G.J. Graafland). An edition of the Acolastus with a translation in Dutch: P. Minderaa, Zwolse drukken en herdrukken voor de Maatschappij der Nederlandse letterkunde te Leiden 15 (Zwolle 1956); with an English translation: Gnapheus, Acolastus, W.E.D. Atkinson (ed.), Studies in the Humanities 3 (London, Ontario 1964). Drs Verena Demoed is now preparing a new biography of Gnapheus and the reception of his dramatic works. 9 ‘Dese sake is bi den heeren stadthouders ende den gantschen raet so hoogh geweghen, dat men twee dagen lanck de gemeyne saken des gantschen lants liet aanstaen, om allen consultatie over die worst te houden. Daer werden de doctoren der medicijnen verhoort ende afgevracht of het ooc natuerlijc waer, dat de zwangere vrouwen lust souden mogen hebben, om vleesch te eten in den vasten.’ Quoted after Minderaa’s edition, 15–16.

topical

matters in dedicatory letters of latin plays

207

Lutheran treatise Een troost ende Spiegel der siecken , written in prison. It appeared without his knowledge in 1531. His choice of dedicatees for the edition of his plays is telling. To the printed publication of the Acolastus he added a letter of dedication to his colleague, the gymnasiarch Johannes Sartorius (or Snijders) of Amsterdam (1500–1557). This choice was a political and a religious statement. Sartorius taught Latin at the school of the monastery of St Paul, later the Waag. He, too, sympathised with the Reformation, and was imprisoned for his views in The Hague for one year in 1525. Although he retracted his opinions, he would be charged again and exiled from Amsterdam in 1535. 10 Simply by choosing Sartorius as the addressee of his dedication, Gnapheus was introducing a topical issue related to the progress of the Reformation in the Low Countries. However, in the dedication itself there is not the faintest hint at contemporary political or religious events. The only more or less topical hint is more literary, viz. that there are so few authors of comedies in his days. In this he shows—or pretends—that he is not acquainted with the literary activities of his colleague in Den Bosch, Georgius Macropedius. Such a remark may be part of the claim we also know from Antiquity that the author is the first to introduce a poetic genre in his country. 11 Gnapheus dedicated his second drama, Morosophus (1541), to Duke Albert of Prussia, his patron in Königsberg. 12 In the letter of dedication, dated Christmas 1540, he states that Albrecht will guarantee the orthodoxy, that is to say the Lutheran orthodoxy, of the play. That seemed to be necessary, since in the play an astrologer is ridiculed, in whom one may see either the physicist and astronomer Nicolaus

10 See J.F.M. Sterck, Onder Amsterdamse Humanisten (Hilversum 1934); J. Trapman, ‘Ioannes Sartorius (ca. 1500–1557), Gymnasiarch te Amsterdam en Noordwijk, als Erasmiaan en spirualist’, in Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis 70 (1990), 30–51. 11 See, e.g., G. Williams, Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry (Oxford 1968), 37; 253–254. 12 F. Rädle, ‘Zur dramatischen Schaffen des Gulielmus Gnapheus im preussischen Exil’, in T. Haye, Humanismus im Norden. Frühneuzeitliche Rezeption antiker Kultur und Literatur an Nord- und Ostsee , Chloe, Beihefte zum Daphnis 32 (Amsterdam-Atlanta 2000), 221–249; H.-G. Roloff, ‘Konfessionelle Probleme in der neulateinischen Literatur des 16. Jahrhunderts’, in K. Garber (ed.), Nation und Literatur im Europa der Frühen Neuzeit, Akten des I. Internationalen Osnabrücker Kongresses zur Kulturgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit (Tübingen 1989), 207–225; B. Schumacher, Niederländische Ansiedlungen im Hertogtum Preussen zur Zeit Herzog Albrechts (1525–1560) (Leipzig 1902–1903).

208

jan bloemendal

Copernicus, or some theologian. Gnapheus, now in the Lutheran part of the German countries, again asserts his religious standpoint by his choice of dedicatee, and this time he explicitly mentions it. He also refers to the duke’s support for the local library and Latin school, but more tellingly, he refers to the fact that he has been appointed at a Latin school for the second time ‘velut postliminio’, as if by rehabilitation, obviously referring to his dismissal from The Hague and his flight to Germany. There were, he says, ‘some screaming sycophants and people who boast of their wisdom’, 13 whom he wished to correct with a dialogue he had written some years ago and dedicated to the duke’s secretary Ludwig Decius to win his friendship, and which he has now reworked into a comedy dedicated to Duke Albert himself.14 He alludes to topical matters regarding his personal life. The third play, Hypocrisis (1544), was dedicated to the physician Jodocus Willichius (1501–1552). The latter was also active as a philologist who wrote a rhetorical commentary on the plays of Terence. 15 In this commentary Willichius considered every scene to be a small oration in which he pointed at the partes orationis of Quintilian. In the dedication Gnapheus again mentions his patron Albert, Duke of Prussia. Gnapheus presents this letter—written as though a ‘real’ letter by the inclusion of regards from two friends to Willichius—as a dedication in friendship, rather than an attempt to earn literary or financial patronage. This third play was, like his second, directed against ‘sycophants’ and ‘hypocrites’ and he excuses himself for presenting religious matters in a comical way. So Gnapheus dedicates his three plays to patrons and friends who are known for their Lutheran faith or for their interest in comical theatre. In the letters he hardly mentions topical matters (if at all), but in each dedication he implicitly presents himself as a Lutheran and a humanist who aims at correcting the morals of children—in his Acolastus, the Prodigal Son—or of some theologians or hypocrites. This

‘Quibusdam clamosis sycophantis et sapientiae iactatoribus.’ ‘Lusimus ante annos aliquot dialogum quendam ludicrum Morosophi titulo inscriptum, quem egregio ac docto viro D. Ludovico Decio Regiae Maiestatis secretario in Celsitudinis Tuae aula [. . .] pro tessera amicitiae ineundae obtulimus; hunc cum in sequentibus annis animadvertissem in comoediae formam non ita magno negotio posse redigi, eam operam mihi sumpsi.’ 15 See, e.g., M.T. Herrick, Comic Theory in the Sixteenth Century, Illinois Studies in Language and Literature 34, 1–2 (Urbana 1950), 77; H.B. Norland, Drama in Early Tudor Britain, 1495–1558 (Lincoln-London 1995), 72. 13 14

topical

matters in dedicatory letters of latin plays

209

is no surprise for his first play, since he treated a biblical and therefore more or less timeless theme, intended more for the correcting of pupils’ morals than for any topicality. But in the case of Morosophus and the Hypocrisis which seem to hint at contemporary situations— ‘hypocrites’ being a Lutheran code-word for the Catholic clergy—one might have expected more hints at topical matters proper, but here the tension between private and public spheres can be noticed. In an open letter the author may express his views as openly as he wishes in order to defend his cause, but the letter of dedication is more limiting by the pragmatics of the open letter, as it should not cause problems for the dedicatee or discredit him by associating his name with controversial opinions. What is the state of affairs in the lengthy letter of dedication that Cornelius Crocus (ca 1500–1550), Roman Catholic schoolmaster of Amsterdam, added to the edition of his Ioseph (1536)? The author, a theologian educated in Leuven, was engaged in a polemic with Sartorius, the friend of Gnapheus already mentioned. 16 In his Ioseph he dealt with the story of the seduction of Joseph by the wife of Potiphar, his imprisonment and release from prison. At first sight, there are no hints at topical matters in the dedicatory letter, added to the 1536 edition and addressed to his Amsterdam colleague Maarten Nieveen, superior of a house of studies known as St Gertrudis. This reticence was to be expected in the preface to a play that is biblical and timeless. But in Joseph, he says, he portrayed the ideal Christian sage, who

16 A new edition of this play is being prepared by Jan Bloemendal. On the printing history of Ioseph, see M. Spies, ‘A Chaste Joseph for Schoolboys. On the Editions of Cornelius Crocus’s sancta comoedia Ioseph (1536–1548)’, in K. Goudriaan, J. van Moolenbroek, and A. Tervoort (eds), Education and Learning in the Netherlands, 1400–1600. Essays in Honour of Hilde de Ridder-Symoens , Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History 123 (Leiden-Boston 2004), 223–233. On Crocus, see A.J. Kölker, Alardus Aemstelredamus en Cornelius Crocus. Twee Amsterdamse priester-humanisten. Hun leven, werken en theologische opvattingen. Bijdrage tot de kennis van het Humanisme in Noord-Nederland in de eerste helft van de zestiende eeuw (Nijmegen-Utrecht 1963). On the Ioseph theme see, a.o., R. Wimmer, Jesuitentheater. Didaktik und Fest. Das Exemplum des ägyptischen Joseph auf den deutschen Bühnen der Gesellschaft Jesu, Das Abendland, N.F. 13 (Frankfurt am Main 1982), 45–60. On imitations of the play, see Wimmer, Jesuitentheater, 63ff; 70; according to Wimmer, Macropedius is an imitator of Crocus, a statement that needs some modification. See also J.A. Parente, Jr, Religious Drama and the Humanist Tradition. Christian Theater in Germany and the Netherlands, 1500–1680 , Brill’s Studies in the History of Christian Thought 39 (Leiden-Boston 1987), 63.

210

jan bloemendal

is prudent, moderate, courageous and righteous. He is a mirror for princes who care about the commonwealth. This is said in an age when Amsterdam had problems with ‘forestalling’ (‘voorkoop’), viz. merchants buying corn at low prices and selling it in times of scarcity at an exorbitant profit. At the end of the letter he explicitly states that this is a dedication out of friendship. It is astonishing that the serious riots of the Anabaptists, who had run through Amsterdam naked and later with swords and who had occupied the town hall in May 1535, are not mentioned at all. In another paratext, a sketch of the situation in which the play was performed, Crocus hints at a feast celebrating the consecration of an Amsterdam church and the victory of Charles V over the Ottomans at Tunis in 1535. But there is more: in this letter he quotes many passages from the Bible and the Church Fathers regarding wisdom, the principal characteristic he assigns to his Joseph. In doing so, he presents himself as a theologian who adheres to the tradition of the Church, and in that way he implicitly involves himself in the religious and political quarrels of the time. An author who referred so explicitly to the tradition, presented himself as an adherent of the Roman Catholic Church, against any reformatory movement. To the 1548 revised edition of the play he added a second dedication in verse, addressed to Hendrick Dircksz, one of the burgomasters of the city of Amsterdam, a very controversial politician and a zealous advocate of Roman Catholic faith. In this dedication he relates how Mercury was imprisoned for a small base profit. We cannot ascertain to what real event this obliquely refers, but Hendrick Dircksz had—a telling detail—been accused of ‘forestalling’! The rector of Utrecht’s Hieronymus School, Cornelius Laurimanus (ca. 1520–1573), approaches matters differently and is more explicit. In the dedication of his Exodus (1562), addressed to Boudewijn Adriaan van Crayesteyn from IJsselstein, he complained about the evil times, with their many violent clashes of true Roman Catholics and foul heretics. 17 In his days, it was common to criticize writings and pronouncements 17 On Laurimanus, see A.J. van der Aa, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden (Haarlem 1852–1878), 11, 211–212; C.L. Heesakkers, Een netwerk aan de basis van de Leidse universiteit. Het album amicorum van Janus Dousa. Facsimile-uitgave van hs. Leiden UB, BPL 1406 met inleiding, transcriptie, vertaling en toelichting (Leiden-The Hague 2000), 2, 341–346.

topical

matters in dedicatory letters of latin plays

211

of others, although it would be far wiser to observe Christian charity. 18 In the dedication of his allegorical play Miles christianus (‘Soldier of Christ’, 1565) to the Cathedral Provost (‘domproost’) and Archdeacon Cornelis van Mierop, the rector of the Hieronymus School mentions the ‘false, schismatic’ (Protestant) ‘heresy’, 19 that is most harmful for true Christian faith (taught by the Roman Catholic Church). He opposes the Christian altercations on the tenets of faith to the unity of the Muslim world, but according to him that unity has another reason, for the founder saw that when this doctrine was discussed and closely examined everybody would see that it is false. 20 Doing so, he is still in line with the mainstream religious situation in Utrecht and presents himself in that self-assured way. The city would get its share of iconoclasm in 1566, the year after the publication of the Miles christianus, but then the Inquisition tried to arrest everybody involved in the iconoclasm. It was not until the end of the seventies that the situation altered and Utrecht went over to the side of Protestantism. This may have been one of the reasons that this dedication was omitted in the second, posthumous edition of 1590, when it was dangerous to take such an overtly Roman Catholic position. In the letter dedicating his Esther (1562) to Willem van Heteren, bailiff of the Order of St John in Utrecht, Laurimanus omitted any topical reference. Usually he defined himself by his lengthy and learned dedicatory letters—they contain references to dramatic theory, the Bible, the Fathers and other theologians of the early Church—as a self-conscious humanist who is acquainted with theology. In spite of some exceptions, letters prefaced to biblical plays generally do not refer to topical matters. The dedications written by Georgius Macropedius (1487–1558), which are addressed to his pupils or to the city magistrates of Utrecht, have a perfunctory character and do

18 F. 1v: ‘Siquidem quid familiarius hoc seculo plus satis exulcerato, quid uberius ac facilius habemus, quam aliorum dicta factave calumniari? ’ And f. 3r: ‘Non habet profecto Christiana religio munimentum aut praesidium quicquam adversus hostium insultus charitate ipsa fortius accommodatiusque.’ 19 ‘Quantumlibet adulterinis ac schismaticis pene omnia perturbata sint doctrinis.’ 20 ‘Profecto non paulo astutiores nobis sunt Mahometistae, qui a disputationibus et doctrinae suae discussione omnino abhorrent et abstinent, licet alia ratione, praemoniti nimirum a suo doctore callidissimo, qui facile praeuidit suam doctrinam consistere non posse, si ad normam veritatis tanquam ad perpendiculum recte exigatur.’

212

jan bloemendal

not have any relation to contemporary events. 21 Macropedius presents himself as a modest man who offers his plays to his pupils or to the city magistrates of Utrecht, whom he thanks for their support for the school. This self-presentation is confirmed in the Apotheosis (1565) that some of his pupils wrote for their deceased teacher under the guidance of Christophorus Vladeraccus. In a lengthy poem Vladeraccus stresses Macropedius’s modesty and mentions that he was an autodidact. The dedicatory letters by Cornelius Schonaeus (1540–1611) do not hint at topical matters either. He speaks of the reactions to, and successes of his earlier plays (which had boosted his confidence regarding the present publication), or of the generosity of the municipal administration to him and his school, and the benefits of reading the Latin comedies of Terence and those of himself. He is, so to speak, apologizing for his publications, but there is not the slightest hint at the alteration of Haarlem in 1578 and the gruesome ‘Haarlemse Noon’, on the day of the Corpus Christi, when armed soldiers violently entered the church of St Bavo and ran amok among the churchgoers. It must have been safer for him to present himself as a Christian rather than as a Roman Catholic author. This also helped him to keep his position when the city officially went over to Protestantism. In the Southern Netherlands Christianus Ischyrius dedicated his Homulus (1541) to the general reader, in a letter standing midway between a dedication and a preface, but he only discusses the value of comedy for personal ethics, clearly as an apology for writing, staging and publishing a comedy. 22 How is the situation in university plays? Let us first look at the biblical plays of Hugo Grotius. In the letter dedicating his Adamus exul (1601) to Henry of Bourbon, heir presumptive to the throne of France, he hints at the ‘quarrels between Christians’. After having said that he took his subject from Holy Writ, he remarks: ‘I admit that in these days you may hurt more people than edify them, unless you choose your words carefully.’ 23 But it is only a hint, Grotius chose his words 21 On Macropedius, see F.P.T. Slits and H. Giebels, Georgius Macropedius 1487– 1558. Leven en werken van een Brabantse humanist (Tilburg 2005). 22 Christianus Ischyrius, Homulus, A. Roersch (ed.) (Ghent-Antwerp 1903). 23 De dichtwerken van Hugo Grotius , I, 1 A/B, Sacra in quibus Adamus exul , B.L. Meulenbroek (ed.) (Assen 1970–1971), 1, 25: ‘Fateor, ut nunc sunt tempora, plures laedas, quam iuves, nisi caute verba examines.’

topical

matters in dedicatory letters of latin plays

213

carefully indeed, apparently so as not to jeopardize his career as a government official. To his second tragedy, Christus patiens (1608), Grotius added a letter of dedication to the jurist Pierre Jeannin, who resided in The Hague as ambassador of the king of France and who played an important role in the negotiations leading to the Twelve Years’ Truce. 24 In this letter, Grotius refers to political issues and to the support of France, in particular of its king, Henry IV for the Dutch Republic. The choice of the dedicatee and the letter itself are a political statement, especially when one takes into consideration that the attitude of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, looking for support in France, was highly debated. 25 But again he is cautious, as well as a bit flattering, as is apt in a letter of dedication. His last play, Sophompaneas (1635), treating the story of Joseph, is presented to the theologian and professor of history and political philosophy in Amsterdam, Gerardus Joannes Vossius. 26 Even here, he refers to the disputationes theologicae, the quarrels within Dutch Calvinism between the Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants, that had caused Grotius himself so much trouble. Grotius remarks that in these quarrels Vossius took a moderate stand, in line with the old Christian Church as the Apostles founded it, one of Grotius’s favourite topics.27 At the end of the letter he presents Joseph as an exemplary administrator, implying that the deputies of the States General of the Dutch Republic should act as wisely and clemently as Joseph. So Grotius introduces topical matters into his letters of dedication, but he does so cautiously, also when he is abroad and is hoping for a safe return to his native country. His friend Daniel Heinsius (1580–1655) wrote two tragedies. He dedicated his first tragedy, Auriacus, sive Libertas saucia (1601) to the States of Holland and West-Friesland. 28 The young author expresses De dichtwerken van Hugo Grotius I, 2, 5 A/B, Christus patiens, B.L. Meulenbroek and A.C. Eyffinger (eds) (Assen 1978). 25 H. Nellen, Hugo de Groot. Een leven in strijd om de vrede, 1583–1645 (Amsterdam 2007), 93–94. 26 The Poetry of Hugo Grotius , I, 4 A/B, Sophompaneas, A.C. Eyffinger (ed.) (Assen 1992); the dedication to Vossius on p. 126–133. 27 Sophompaneas, 126: ‘[. . .] in disputationum theologicarum aestu fervente saeculo te reperi prudentia et animi moderatione singulari, qui ab iis, quae ecclesiae ab Apostolis satae et quae cum illis germanitate disciplinae cohaerebant ut certa atque explorata tenuerunt, nunquam decederes, ab iis vero quae antiquitus liberam habuerunt disputationem inhiberes decretiorium stylum.’ 28 Daniel Heinsius, Auriacus, sive Libertas saucia (1602), J. Bloemendal (ed.), 2 vols (Voorthuizen 1997). The dedication in 1, 190–203; another dedication in Greek to 24

214

jan bloemendal

his gratitude that this region gave him shelter when he had to flee from his native Ghent for religious reasons. In the dedication he implicitly asks the States to try to reconquer the Southern provinces. The second, Herodes infanticida, was dedicated to his pupil, the diplomat Constantijn Huygens, as a token of gratitude, because the latter had dedicated his collection of poems, the Otia, to his Leiden teacher. It is as if the professor wants to show that he had connections with the upper class. But Heinsius also mentions the ‘malignity of the factions of this age’, 29 referring, one is inclined to think, to the recatholization and separation of the Southern provinces. Nevertheless, in both letters Heinsius is cautious and polite. One of the other friends of Grotius and Heinsius, Rochus Honerdius (van den Honert) addresses the reader without any reference to contemporary issues at all, but refers only to the successful tragedies of his two friends and to the story of the rape of Tamar by her halfbrother Amnon (2 Samuel 13). He also expatiates on the fact that he is an amateur who just wanted to try his hand at writing a tragedy. 30 Nicolaus Vernulaeus (de Vernulz, 1583–1649) wrote a tragedy for the Leuven academic theatre, Henricus Octavus seu Schisma Anglicanum (1624).31 Although this English schism had taken place almost a century earlier, it was still relevant because of the European religious wars, and even more relevant because the biggest news story of 1623 was Prince Charles’s incognito trip to Madrid to court the Infanta Maria. Given that the last English prince to court an Infanta was Henry VIII, who broke with Rome, and the 1623 marriage treaty (which never came into effect because the marriage never took place) would have healed the rift at least to the extent of granting freedom of conscience to Catholics in England (not to mention wild press speculation about Charles’s impending conversion), there’s a very immediate topical relevance.32 He dedicated the play to the Provost of St Peter’s in Lille, Engelbert Desbois, who would later become bishop of Namur. In

Josephus Justus Scaliger (1, 202–207) expands on Scaliger’s qualities and his judgment on Heinsius’s literary capacities. 29 Daniel Heinsius, Poemata auctiora, Leiden: F. Hegerus, 1640, 312: ‘factionum huius saeculi malignitate.’ 30 Cf. Rochus Honerdius, Thamara tragoedia (Leiden: J. Patius, 1611). 31 Nicolaus Vernulaeus, Henricus Octavus seu Schisma Anglicanum tragoedia (Leuven: Philip Dormael, 1624); see Henry VIII. A Neo-Latin Drama , L. A. Schuster (ed.) (Austin 1964). The dedication on pp. 77–80. 32 For this remark I wish to thank Paul Arblaster.

topical

matters in dedicatory letters of latin plays

215

the dedicatory letter he mentions how shocked the Roman Catholics were by the defection of England from the Catholic faith. At least it is clear that Vernulaeus is a strong defender of Catholic faith. So in their dedicatory letters the authors—in this case of drama—as a rule are cautious and polite. But this practice does not prevent them from making allusions to topical matters and expressing their views in topical issues. This is partly due to the rhetoric and pragmatics of the writing of dedicatory letters and partly to their own situation. In some instances it was neither wise nor safe to express one’s views too explicitly, in other instances the authors could present themselves as Protestants or Roman Catholics. However that may be, the dedicatory paratext belongs to the epistolary genre, conforms to the formal requirements of letter-writing, and as such is an interesting text in its own right. Too often it is regarded as a merely perfunctory, insignificant part of the editions of early modern works, filled with obligatory tokens of feigned modesty. The diversity of its manifestations in this short survey shows that when closely examined the letters of dedication reveal something of the views of the Latin schoolmasters and other humanists on religious and political matters. They never can become too specific, because of the situations they live in. In general the theory of drama implied that this genre should treat general themes, not matters of topical interest. But even that does not prevent some of them from intertwining topical matters in their dedications to Latin plays.

PART III

LEARNED LETTER WRITERS IN THE NETHERLANDS AS WITNESSES OF THE DUTCH REVOLT

Fig. 8. Jan Wierix, Portrait of Christopher Plantin , engraving (ca 1588). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. KP B 1260

BETWEEN PHILIP II AND WILLIAM OF ORANGE: THE CORRESPONDENCE OF CHRISTOPHER PLANTIN (ca 1520–1589) Dirk Imhof (Antwerp) In 1556, Christopher Plantin composed an ode to the new Spanish king Philip II, who had just succeeded his father Charles V, entitled Ode au trespuissant, et serenissime prince, Philippe II . Plantin printed the text himself and also personally bound one copy to present to the king. 1 By 1570 Philip had named Plantin his royal printer in the Netherlands. Nine years later, however, in 1579, the then renowned Plantin received William of Orange and his wife Charlotte de Bourbon in his printing office, when they were visiting Antwerp. For this occasion, Plantin wrote a poem in honor of the royal pair, which he had printed in their presence. It began with ‘Le seul divin est perdurable; toute autre chose est perissable’ (Only the godly exists forever, everything else perishes) and was given the following imprint: ‘Faict & imprimé presents les tresillustres Prince & Princesse d’Orange, venus voir l’imprimerie de Christophle Plantin, XIIII jour de décembre MDLXXIX’ (Made and printed before the illustrious Prince and Princess of Orange, during their visit of Christopher Plantin’s Press on the 14th day of December, 1579).2 Philip II’s royal printer thereby sided with one of the king’s enemies.

1 PP, no. 2058; only copy in the Escurial. [ PP = L. Voet and J. Grisolle, The Plantin Press (1555–1589). A Bibliography of the Works Printed and Published by Christopher Plantin at Antwerp and Leiden , 6 vols (Amsterdam 1980–1983)]. 2 L. Voet, The Golden Compasses. A History and Evaluation of the Printing and Publishing Activities of the Officina Plantiniana at Antwerp, 2 vols (Amsterdam-London-New York 1969–1972), 1, 97 and 398. PP, nos 2059 and 2060; reproduction in Voet, Golden Compasses, 1, pl. 102 (between pp. 404–405). Probably in the same year Plantin also wrote and printed another poem ‘Souhait’ at the occasion of a visit of William of Orange to Antwerp ( PP, no. 2061). The only known copies are preserved in the Plantin-Moretus Musuem (cat. nos 4–113 and 4–114). For a transcription of these poems see Les rimes de Christophe Plantin (Antwerp 1922), no. 11, p. 38, and no. 12, p. 39, with note on p. 61, and CP Suppl., Ep. 270, 272, and 273. [ CP = M. Rooses and J. Denucé (eds), Correspondance de Christophe Plantin , 9 vols (Antwerp 1883–1920) and M. Van Durme (ed.), Supplément à la correspondance de Christophe Plantin (Antwerp 1955)].

220

dirk imhof

Choosing sides in the Netherlands in the later sixteenth century was a difficult and dangerous business, which left many, including Plantin, trying to please both sides in turn. As I will demonstrate in the following paper, Christopher Plantin’s extensive correspondence reveals many of the concerns of those who tried to tread that fine line between two warring parties and with what results. During nearly his entire career as a publisher in the later sixteenth century, Christopher Plantin was caught between two rival groups in the Low Countries, and tried to remain in favour with both. Unlike the humanists who are focused upon in this book, he was not a learned scholar, but thanks to his position as a publisher and his extensive correspondence, he is an excellent addition to this group. Moreover, it was of even greater importance for printers to maintain a position between contending parties because they were largely dependent upon them for orders to print books. In my paper, I will first give a brief overview of Plantin’s life and say something about what is preserved of his correspondence, before finally illustrating with some examples from these letters how he responded to the events of his time. A brief overview of Plantin’s life Born in Tours (France) around 1520, Christopher Plantin settled in Antwerp in 1548/49, where he initially made his living as a bookbinder. After a few years he set up his own Press, the Officina Plantiniana, and printed his first book in 1555. Upon his arrival in Antwerp, the city was already an important center for the production and trade of books. Thanks to its harbour it was a flourishing economic center and had become the most prosperous city in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. Yet, in the second half of that century the Wars of Religion and the revolt against Catholic Spanish rule made commerce very difficult. Nevertheless, despite the difficult circumstances, Plantin managed his business in a strikingly successful manner, overcoming many dangerous and risky moments. In 1562 a heretical pamphlet was found at his Press. He consequently had to stay in Paris to avoid involvement in this affair until 1563, when he was able to return to Antwerp. He started his printing operations again, but now he actively sought to cultivate the favour of Spanish authorities. He managed to convince King Philip II to subsidize the printing of a new polyglot

between philip ii and william of orange

221

bible. This project resulted in the most impressive edition of the sixteenth century: the Biblia regia, an edition of the bible in five languages supplemented with numerous linguistic and historical treatises by the best scholars of that time. Begun in 1568, all eight large folio volumes would not be completed until 1573. Plantin was now famous throughout Europe. Moreover, the contacts with the Spanish authorities gave him lucrative contracts for the printing of liturgical works for the Spanish territories. Between 1572 and 1576, more than one hundred thousand copies of missals, breviaries, and books of hours were shipped from Antwerp to Spain. In the meantime, Philip II had named Plantin as his architypographus. However, this did not stop him from printing pamphlets against Spanish authorities and even being appointed as the official printer of the States General of the Low Countries, which was directing a war against the Spanish king. The war in the Netherlands had also made economic life increasingly difficult. Plantin consequently took precautions and encouraged by Justus Lipsius, prepared the installation of a second Press in the more tranquil Northern Provinces, viz. in Leiden, where a new and increasingly successful university had been founded in 1578. In 1583, when the Spanish troops led by Alexander Farnese neared Antwerp, he entrusted his Press to his sons-in-law, the Protestant Franciscus Raphelengius and the Catholic Johannes I Moretus, and left the city for Leiden to manage his Press there. Farnese took Antwerp on 17 August 1585. Again under Catholic Spanish rule, Antwerp became a center of the Counter-Reformation. Plantin returned to Antwerp, 3 but ran his Press only for another four years. He died on 1 July 1589. Plantin printed or published 2,450 editions. When at the height of his career in the early 1570’s, he used sixteen presses, an astounding number for an Officina in sixteenth-century Europe. Bible editions, the above-mentioned liturgical books, and theological treatises form the majority of his production. Numerous editions of classical authors, treatises on canonical and civil right, and historical treatises were also printed on his presses. In addition, he published many scholarly and scientific editions of such quality that they were sought throughout Europe. 3 Franciscus Raphelengius was asked to take care of the Leiden branch of the cina Plantiniana.

Offi-

222

dirk imhof The correspondence of Plantin

It was, in any case, an eventful career, during which he constantly had to steer clear off dangerous reefs and whirlpools. What does his correspondence reveal about this? Max Rooses began to publish Plantin’s correspondence in 1883, but work on this project progressed slowly and at irregular intervals. Jan Denucé continued work on this project following Rooses’ death, finally publishing the ninth volume in 1920, thirty-seven years after the appearance of the first. These nine volumes comprise a total of 1515 items, including a few letters from Johannes Moretus to members of his family, as well as some letters written by and sent to Johannes Moretus between Plantin’s death and the start of the new year, 1590. Marcel Van Durme published a supplement to these volumes in 1953, which contained approximately 250 letters and a number of additional documents pertaining to Plantin. When one looks through the correspondence, two things strike one immediately. Firstly, most documents are in fact copies of letters that Plantin wrote to his correspondents, and in some cases, just summaries of the actual letter. They are mostly preserved in four bundles, located in the Plantin-Moretus Museum. Few of the letters others wrote to Plantin are still preserved. 4 The question is, how all of these letters were lost. Were they thrown away at the time by Plantin himself when the relevant matter in the letter had been dealt with? Or did someone at a certain time went through the correspondence to ‘cleanse’ it of all letters that were not strictly Catholic, as some modern authors suggest? For there were, indeed, several occasions in the history of the Officina Plantiniana when either Plantin or one of his successors, the Moretuses, had reasons for wanting to destroy all of the potentially compromising letters. Plantin himself might have had destroyed them following his return from Leiden to the Catholic and Spanish South. Or this could also have occurred when, for example, the good Catholic faith of Plantin’s son-in-law, Johannes I Moretus, was questioned in 4 Quite recently an overlooked letter from Nicolaas Oudaert to Plantin dated 12 October 1586 was published by J. De Landtsheer, ‘ “Die wereldvreemde proffen van Leuven in hun ivoren toren.” Een vergeten brief van Nicolaas Oudaert aan Christoffel Plantijn’, in De Gulden Passer 87 (2009), 31–58. In this case the Antwerp printer had a copy of his letter sent to their common friend Justus Lipsius. The latter had set out on a trip to the German Empire and hence to the Southern Netherlands, with the intention never to return to Leiden. With his letter Plantin wanted to convince him that he was held in high esteem in his native country.

between philip ii and william of orange

223

1599. At that time the Antwerp publisher Jan van Keerberghen tried to undermine Moretus’s reputation by spreading various rumours—even as far as Rome—in order to break Moretus’s monopoly for the printing of liturgical works. Perhaps, when applying for references from Antwerp authorities, like Bishop Guillaume de Berghes, to refute these assaults on his piety and orthodoxy, Johannes I Moretus destroyed all of the letters with a suspicious content or those that were written to or received from a Calvinist correspondent, so as to avoid all possible complications. There are many reasons to believe this, but, on the other hand, most of the letters from unquestionable Catholics have also disappeared, whereas, remarkably enough, a number of letters from Hendrik Janssen van Barrefelt have survived. He was the leader of the ‘Huis der Liefde’, or ‘Family of Love’ and Plantin’s spiritual advisor in the 1580s. Jan Denucé assumed that Plantin’s successors kept the letters because they did not understand the mystical explanations in them. The second, striking element when looking through the correspondence is that there are also hardly any letters preserved from the first years that Plantin worked as a printer in Antwerp: just about ten dating to 1555 to 1565, the first decade that Plantin was active as a printer. The bundles in which he kept his own version of his letters do not start until 1561. Virtually no letter is preserved from the years in which he set up his business. This is particularly regrettable because these first ten years were so significant for the development of Plantin’s career. As one would expect from a publisher’s correspondence, most of the letters deal with the production and sale of books. There are, for example, numerous letters from Plantin to authors, either with an offer to publish their texts or else with information on the progress made in printing their work. The search for funds to cover the production costs was also a constant concern for Plantin and is, consequently, the main topic of many letters. In addition, there are, of course, also numerous letters to book sellers and other clients. There are two particularly important correspondents: Philip II’s secretary, Gabriel de Zayas, and a chaplain to the king, Benito Arias Montano. Plantin supposedly became acquainted with the first, soon after he had moved to Antwerp. One night, when he was taking a specially tooled leather box to De Zayas, he was attacked by robbers who thought it to be a box of money. Plantin was severely wounded and consequently had to choose another trade, whereupon he decided

224

dirk imhof

to work as a printer. While there are many reasons for questioning this story, the fact remains that Plantin and De Zayas got to know one another early on. The earliest preserved letter from Plantin to De Zayas dates to 1566 and they continued to correspond up until the printer’s death. This secretary to Philip II was Plantin’s link to the court. Consequently, Plantin’s relationship with the king of Spain is often an important topic in their letters. De Zayas was also, just in sheer numbers, Plantin’s most important correspondent: 118 letters from Plantin to him are preserved; some are only in a rough draft in the Plantin-Moretus Museum, others are copies of an original letter preserved in the Simancas archive in Spain. Nevertheless, only 6 letters from De Zayas to Plantin are known. The second important person in Plantin’s correspondence is Benito Arias Montano, whom the king sent to Antwerp in 1568 to help Plantin with the production of the Biblia regia.5 He remained in Antwerp for several years, during which time he and Plantin became close friends. When he returned to Spain in 1575, the two maintained an active correspondence with one another. 6 The fact that both of these important corespondents are Spaniards, affects what we read in Plantin’s letters. It would have been impossible for him to criticize Spanish authorities too much in them. And yet, it is precisely in these letters that Plantin does let something slip about his position on certain political events. Plantin’s response to the events of his time What does Plantin’s correspondence teach us about political events in the Low Countries in the second half of the sixteenth century? The correspondence really starts in the year 1566, the year of the Iconoclasm. At that time, Plantin was still engaged in a partnership, begun in 1563, with several Antwerp businessmen: Karel and Cornelis Van

5 On Arias Montano, see B. Rekers, Benito Arias Montano , 1527–1598, Studies of the Warburg Institute 33 (London etc. 1972). 6 Their correspondence was recently edited, viz. B. Macías Rosendo, La Biblia políglota de Amberes en la correspondencia de Benito Arias Montano (Ms. Estoc. A 902) (Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Sevilla) (Huelva 1998) and A. Dávila Pérez, Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia conservada en el Museo Plantin-Moretus de Amberes , Palmyrenus. Collección de textos y estudios humanísticos, serie textos 3, 1–2 (AlcañizMadrid 2002).

between philip ii and william of orange

225

Bomberghen, Goropius Becanus, Jacob de Schotti and Fernando de Bernuy. These partners turned out to be fervent Calvinists, who fled Antwerp as the Duke of Alva neared the city, in search of safer quarters. Consequently, the partnership was prematurely dissolved in 1567, four years before the end of the agreed upon eight years’ term. Plantin wrote to De Zayas about this on 30 August 1567. He stated that he had separated himself completely from those who had supported him financially, as he was not entirely certain of the quality of their Catholic faith. He, himself, would remain faithful to the Catholic church until the very end: ‘Je me suis totalement separé d’avec quelques-uns qui cy devant m’avoyent assisté de deniers pour fournir aux despents de mon imprimerie.’7 In this light, it appears as if Plantin had initiated the dissolution of the partnership, but it was more likely the partners who had taken the initiative before fleeing to Cologne in order to recuperate as much of their investment in the company as possible and take it with them. Plantin claimed that he had always been faithful to the church and the king: Car je prend Dieu et ma conscience à tesmoing que je n’ay oncques adhéré ni favorisé de coeur ni d’oeuvre à chose contraire à la Majesté catholique ni à la foy et religion de nostre mère, saincte esglise catholique et Romaine, en laquelle je proteste, comme j’ay tousjours faict, de vivre et de mourir. 8

And yet, while he supposedly did not want to be involved with those partners with Calvinist sympathies, Plantin did continue to borrow money from them later on. In the years to come, Plantin placed all his bets on Spain. Philip II subvented his production of the Biblia regia and he was awarded a contract for the delivery of thousands of liturgical books for Spain. In addition, he was named Philip II’s architypographus and had to check up on other printers. These prosperous years soon came to an end, however, with a dramatic event in Antwerp, namely, the Spanish Fury from 4 November 1576. The Spanish troops had gathered in a citadel that lay next to the city. Hardly paid, they became restless and went in search of booty. On 4 November 1576 they broke out of the castle and stormed into the city, overpowering its defenders in no time. The Spanish troops plundered the city for three days, robbing and 7 8

CP 1, Ep. 83. CP 1, Ep. 116, to Gabriel de Zayas, letter from March 1568.

226

dirk imhof

murdering thousands of its citizens. The Officina Plantiniana was also hit hard: Plantin and his collaborators had to put out fires three times and pay ransoms for their lives and property nine times. The soldiers thought that they would find large sums of money there, as Plantin asserts, because he maintained 21 presses and had more than 150 employees. Immediately following the Spanish Fury, his son-in-law Johannes I Moretus wrote several letters in which he described what had happened. Plantin himself traveled to Liège, Paris and Frankfurt in search of loans. He rarely (and then only briefly) referred to the events in his own correspondence. When he did mention the event, it was without indignation, but rather with resignation, as nothing could be done about it. His only complaint concerned his great financial losses from having paid so many bribes and having to house Spanish soldiers for several months. This marked the start of several difficult years. Plantin wrote that he remained in the Low Countries in the period 1576–1577 because of his loyalty to Philip II. 9 He compared himself with a ship that was dragged along in a storm: Je supplie treshumblement de me vouloir avertir en peu de mots ce que je doibs attendre ou faire en ces temps ou nous sommes comme la navire agitee des vagues et orages de la mer furieuse sans qu’il ait pilote aucun qui la puisse governer a droit. De maniere que sommes contraints de vagabonder au gré des vents impetueux et comme les vagues nous jectent ores deça ores dela. 10

The States General assumed power following the Pacification of Ghent in 1578, and the rebels had the political advantage again. How did Philip II’s royal printer respond to this situation? Plantin himself sought to become the official printer of the States. Awarded this position, Philip II’s architypographus was now also the printer of the rebel forces, paid to print their publications. Moreover, he dedicated several works to Archduke Matthias of Austria, who was asked to rule over the Low Countries. And, when François of Anjou was made ruler of the Low Countries in 1582, Plantin similarly offered his services to him. In this way, he also became his ducal printer. Anjou returned to France in 1583, however, when his attempt to gain more power by force failed. 9 10

Voet, The Golden Compasses, 1, 92. CP 7, Ep. 959, letter from 3 November 1581.

between philip ii and william of orange

227

Nevertheless, Plantin continued to distance himself more and more from Philip II. When Philip’s sovereignty over the Low Countries was taken away, Plantin asked his correspondents to no longer refer to him as the ‘royal printer’. In his letters to Gabriel de Zayas, Plantin maintained that he was forced to print the pamphlets and placards of the States General. In one letter from 6 October 1579 (see Fig. 9) he wrote: From my heart and before God, all his angels and saints, I proclaim that I never changed my opinion or conviction in God or his royal Majesty. Just the opposite, every day I am ever more inspired by heavenly mercy and grace to do my best to keep and increase their glory and royal authority. I have never tolerated that I would be induced by any words, threats, prayers or money from those who are now largely in power, that I would print something other than what I had printed before, or what was usually approved by the authorities, or by those whose commands I could not ignore because of their public mandate. As long as I am here and they are in power, I could not refuse anything which was publically determined by the States General and the governor and given to me to print. If something else was printed under my name, which can and has already occurred through such violators of the business of printing, it cannot be counted against me. 11

But, the continued existence of his business was far more important to Plantin than all these great pledges of faithfulness to the Catholic Church and the king. After De Zayas had inquired about the situation in the Low Countries, Plantin sent him with another letter from 5 September 1581 all his recently published editions ‘exepté quelques placcarts necessairement imprimés en nostre imprimerie par le commandement exprès des superieurs auxquels il faut ceder et obeir pour vivre, demeurer et conserver etc.’ 12 Thus, he persisted in working for

11 CP 6, Ep. 840, letter from 6 October 1579, to De Zayas: ‘Primum ego ex animo et coram Deo, omnibus angelis et sanctis eius testor me numquam mutasse animum nec voluntatem erga Deum nec Maiestatem regiam, imo magis ac magis indies per divinam misericordiam et gratiam accendi ad eorum gloriam et maiestatis auctoritatem pro viribus conservandam augendamque, neque verbis, minis, precibus ullis, nec precio eorum qui non parum iam potentia valent passus sum me flecti ad quid aliud imprimendum quam quae antehac impresseram vel more solito approbata fuerunt ab ordinariis vel ab illis, iussu quorum mandato publico non meum fuit nec est detractare vel quicquam dum hic sum et illi gubernant denegare quod publice a Statibus et Gubernatore fuerit conclusum et mihi iussum et traditum ad imprimendum. Si quid autem aliud sub nomine meo impressum alicubi fuerit ut fieri potest et iam vulgo fit a typographiae stupratoribus mihi certe non est imputandum.’ 12 CP 6, Ep. 940.

228

dirk imhof

Fig. 9. Christopher Plantin, Letter to Gabriel de Zayas (6 October 1579). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 10, fol. 5v

between philip ii and william of orange

229

the rebels because he had to earn his living and to survive. This short passage with a brief justification of why he worked for the rebels in the late 1570s–early 1580s seems much more honest to me than al his long digressions on the pressure he was under to print something against the Spanish king. It is for me the best illustration of the fact that Plantin did not want to chose between the one or the other. The survival of his company was what counted. In reality, there was little actual pressure. It is clear from Plantin’s own entreaties to the States General that he had offered to print for them himself. In the period 1579–1581, Plantin also printed various editions in honor of William of Orange, such as Matthias Lobelius’s herbal or the Declaratie van die triumphante incompst vanden [. . .] prince van Oraingnien binnen [. . .] Brussel by Jan-Baptist Houwaert. He also printed some works by Calvinists, such as editions by Janus Dousa or De la verité de la religion chrestienne by Philippe Du PlessisMornay, a French Huguenot. Editions such as the Diverses lettres interceptes du cardinal de Granvelle, à divers personnages du party des malcontens. Item deux du president Foncq (Antwerp: Franciscus Raphelengius 1580; also printed in Dutch), 13 and Bartolomé de las Casas’s Tyrannies et cruautez des Espagnols, perpetrees és Indes Occidentales [. . .] descrites en langue castillane [. . .] fidelement traduictes (Antwerp: Franciscus Raphelengius 1579), were much more dangerous. Each of these works appeared without any printer’s name, or else with that of Plantin’s son-in-law, Franciscus Raphelengius, or his nephew Guillaume Rivière, or other employees. Plantin was playing it safe. In early 1583, Plantin moved to Leiden in order to set-up a new Officina Plantiniana. He was also appointed there as the printer for the University of Leiden. 14 Very few letters are preserved from this period and copies from Plantin’s letters are non-existent. Some letters writ13 Afgheworpene brieven van sommighe vermommede ende valsche patriotten (Antwerp: Guillaume Riviere 1580), the Afgheworpene brieven vanden cardinael van Granvelle ende vanden president Fonck, gheschreven aen sommige personagien van de Malcontenten (Antwerp: Franciscus Raphelengius 1580). 14 Plantin arrived in Leiden at the end of April 1583. He matriculated on 29 April, cf. Album Studiosorum Academiae Lugduno-Batavae, 1575–1875 (The Hague 1875), 14. Although Justus Lipsius did his utmost to help Plantin, it nevertheless took until 12 May 1584 for the curators and mayors to appoint him the official printer of the University, for which he was to receive an annuity of 200 fl. with retroactive effect to 1 May 1583. Cf. P.C. Molhuysen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit , 1: 1574–1610), Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën. Grote serie 20 (The Hague 1913), 40 and 119*.

230

dirk imhof

ten to Plantin are preserved, however. One of these is from Laevinus Torrentius, the future bishop of Antwerp, who often looked out for Plantin’s interests. He wrote that he had heard a rumour that Plantin had moved to Leiden because he had converted to Calvinism. He hoped that Plantin would not work for the University of Leiden because it was so antagonistic towards the Catholic church. 15 Unfortunately, Plantin’s response is not preserved. It is remarkable that, while in Leiden in December 1583, Plantin sent a long letter of complaint to Philip II, which he titled: ‘Relation simple & veritable d’aulcuns griefz que moy Christophle Plantin ay souffert depuis quinze ans ou environ pour avoir obey au commendement & service de sa Majesté sans qu’on aye receu payement ne recompense’. It is the culmination of all the complaints that he had formulated in the previous years concerning Philip’s failure to deliver his promised subsidies. As he wrote this from Leiden, he cannot have had much hope that Philip would have attended to this complaint. Following the fall of Antwerp in 1585, Plantin returned to the city, while his son-in-law, Franciscus Raphelengius, went to run the Press in Leiden. It was far from certain that Plantin, as the printer from the University of Leiden, who had published several anti-Spanish pamphlets, could return as if nothing had happened. He tried to justify himself to his Spanish allies, in particular because he had put to press in those years a few pamphlets from the pretender to the Portuguese throne, Antonio of Portugal, who called for rebellion against Philip II (who had taken Portugal in 1580). These pamphlets had appeared without the name of the printer. In 1585, Plantin printed another pamphlet by this same Antonio, but then with his name on the title page, the Explanatio veri ac legitimi iuris, quo serenissimus Lusitaniae rex Antonius [. . .] nititur ad bellum Philippo regi Castellae pro regni recuperatione inferendum. When he was back in Antwerp, Plantin wrote to Gabriel de Zayas that he was forced to print this text with his name on the title page: Auquel païs de Hollande j’ay trouvé de bons amis, des gens fort catholiques et communement fort bonnes personnes, parquoy je m’y trouvois fort bien, y estois fort aimé et favorisé de tous nonobstant que chaicun sceust que ie demeurois tousjours constant en notre saincte religion catholicque et que j’eusse protesté de jamais n’imprimer aucun livre repugnant a icelle mais seulement les livres d’humanité propres a

15

CP 7, Ep. 1012, letter from 10 October 1583.

between philip ii and william of orange

231

toutes escholes en tous païs et ainsi m’y tenois-je volontiers jusques a ce qu’un certain personnage se disant commissaire d’ung Don Antonio m’apporta ung traicté contre la S.C.R. Mté voulant que ie l’imprimasse, ce que luy ayant refusé absolutement, il atiltra quelques seigneurs d’authorité audict lieu pour me penser ainsi persuader a le faire, veu qu’il vouloit faire des despends, payer le papier, ouvriers et touters autres despenses. Ce que derechef je refuse tout a plat, luy donc voyant qu’il ne pourroit impetrer cela de moy, il fist tant envers la Cour de Hollande qu’il obtint commandement et congé de la pouvoir faire faire en mon imprimerie, chose qui me despleut tant que des alors je me preparay pour me retirer dudict païs. 16

He wrote to Charles de Tisnacq, an officer at the Spanish court in Brussels, that he had used the imprint in typographia Christophori Plantini on the title page of this treatise by Don Antonio instead of the usual ex typographia Christophori Plantini. In this way, he endeavoured to imply that he had been forced to print this anti-Spanish work by the authorities in the Northern Netherlands. 17 Nicely found, but who would realise this without Plantin’s explanation? Plantin did succeed in being accepted, once again, by the Spanish, Catholic rulers. The Officina Plantiniana could begin again. Although Plantin complained that he only printed works at the request of other important booksellers, his business was still flourishing. He died, however, four years later in 1589. Johannes I Moretus and his descendants continued to keep Plantin’s press alive into the nineteenth century. At the end of the letters between Plantin and Benito Arias Montano, greetings were often exchanged between a small group of people, which included the cartographer Abraham Ortelius, the philologist Theodorus Pulmannus, and the print publisher Philip Galle. Plantin probably related his true thoughts concerning the events of the day to this intimate group of friends, in whom he trusted. In his letters, by contrast, Plantin always had to be very careful, especially with his Spanish contacts. Indeed, his deeds often differed significantly from his letters. When Plantin had to choose between Philip II and the States General, he actually did not choose one over the other. Like a businessman, he chose for who was in power ‘pour vivre, demeurer et conserver’.

CP 7, Ep. 1056, letter from 21 December 1585 (see Fig. 10). On this matter see also Voet, The Golden Compasses, 1, 110–111; 2, 8. On 4 July 1587 Plantin wrote to Charles de Tisnacq that he had used in ‘voulant insinuer par telle maniere susdicte que lesdicts livres ou se trouvera In, En etc. sont bien faicts en madicte imprimerie mais contre ma volonté’ ( CP 8–9, Ep. 1278). 16 17

232

dirk imhof

Fig. 10. Christopher Plantin, Letter to Gabriel de Zayas (21 December 1585). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 10, fol. 64r

NEW DOCUMENTS ON BENITO ARIAS MONTANO (ca 1525–1598) AND POLITICS IN THE NETHERLANDS* Antonio Dávila Pérez (Cádiz) Benito Arias Montano (ca 1525–1598) set foot in the Netherlands for the first time on 15 May 1568. After a difficult journey across Ireland and England, where he had survived encounters ‘civil and uncivil’, 1 he arrived at Antwerp in obedience to Philip II’s instructions to assist in the process of editing and printing the Biblia Polyglotta or Biblia Regia, on which the publisher Christopher Plantin had already been working for several years. This edition was the product of a desire to provide the ‘Christian Republic’ with a Bible in the original languages, with text and commentary corrected in accordance with the very latest biblical philology. Arias Montano was then forty-two years old, and although most of his works were still to be written and published, his fame as a reflective and perceptive theologian had already reached the king. Philip therefore entrusted this weighty mission to him, ‘as a priest and theologian highly curious and expert in the Holy Scripture and as our servant, [. . .] and because of our satisfaction concerning your person, talent, letters and Christian fervour.’ 2 At that time, Arias was a man at the height of social and intellectual success: a knight of the military order of Santiago, Royal Chaplain of Philip II, and now supervisor of the century’s most important project in biblical philology. During the seven years of his sojourn in Antwerp (1568–1575), Arias not only worked as a director of that magnificent Bible in five languages, but also spent his time in countless other official tasks. He * This research was conducted as part of Research Project HUM2006-05381 of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. I am deeply indebted to Jeanine De Landtsheer, Werner Thomas and Enrique Morales for their useful corrections, observations and suggestions. 1 Benito Arias Montano to Philip II, 6 July 1568, in T. González Carvajal, Elogio histórico del doctor Benito Arias Montano , Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia 7 (Madrid 1832), 148 (doc. 26). 2 Instructions to Benito Arias Montano ‘as regards the impression of the Bible that was to be made in Antwerp’, 25 March 1568 (Spanish draft kept in Archivo General de Simancas E 537, f. 94–95, published by Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 140–144 (doc. 19)).

234

antonio dávila pérez

Fig. 11. Anonymous, Portrait of Benito Arias Montano , engraving. Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. OP 11064

new documents on benito arias montano

235

directed the redaction of the Index of forbidden books in 1570 and of the Index of expurgated books in 1571, bought and collected books and manuscripts for the new royal library of the Escorial, and supervised the administration and printing of the liturgical books (breviaries, missals, books of hours) Plantin produced for the Spanish Crown. On top of this, he worked as a commercial agent for many Spanish friends, sending them books, astronomical instruments, tapestries and so on at the best prices. As far as his humanist interests are concerned, during this period he also managed to write eleven short treatises on biblical history, geography and archaeology, which were to form the Apparatus Sacer, the last volume of the Polyglotta. Besides a treatise on rhetoric in hexameters ( Rethoricorum libri quattuor , Antwerp 1575), he translated the Psalms into Latin ( Davidis regis ac Prophetae aliorumque sacrorum vatum Psalmi , ibid. 1573), wrote commentaries on the Holy Scripture such as the Commentaria in duodecim prophetas (ibid. 1571), and a theological treatise for students ( Dictatum Christianum, ibid. 1575). During holidays Arias Montano could not stop working, but spent long hours in—according to his own words—minor things and hobbies, such as writing Latin poetry, naturally on biblical themes. As a result of this hobby the large collection entitled Humanae salutis monumenta appeared in 1571. 3 Taking into account this frantic activity, it is not strange that harsh condemnations of sloth and idleness can be found in many of his works: ‘Christians were not born to be in idleness, but to serve God and His Republic, each one with what God gave to him’, 4 or ‘man is born to work, and birds to fly’.5 One of the countless tasks he performed in the Netherlands concerned politics. Nevertheless, the most important epistolary sources for the history of the Revolt have omitted Arias Montano’s name. Luis Morales Oliver was the first scholar to study Arias Montano’s involvement in the political situation of the Netherlands. His work 3 Besides the works mentioned, Montano published with Plantin poems in elegiac couplets in Virorum doctorum de disciplinis benemeritis effigies XLIIII (1572), Humani generis amatori Deo liberalissimo sacrarum divinarum nuptiarum conventa et acta Christi Iesu Vitae (1573), David, hoc est, virtutis exercitatissimae probatum Deo spectaculum Iesu Christi dignitatis virtutis et efficientiae praenuntiis Sibyllis X (1575). 4 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, 19 August 1575, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano con Felipe II, el secretario Zayas y otros sugetos desde 1568 hasta 1580, Colección de Documentos inéditos para la Historia de España (Madrid 1842–1914), 41, 323. 5 Benito Arias Montano, Naturae Historia, prima in magni operis corpore pars (Antwerp 1601), 2.

236

antonio dávila pérez

Arias Montano y la política de Felipe II en Flandes is based on several published and unpublished documents and sheds much light on this subject. Morales Oliver echoes a dialogue between Aristotle and Alexander the Great about the counsellors of princes: they are like eyes and they have to make judgements on the present, the past and the future, in the same way that sight extends in all directions. 6 Philip II entrusted a number of remarkable men throughout his Monarchy with the task of sending him secret reports, and after Morales Oliver’s study it is beyond all doubt that during his sojourn in the Netherlands, Arias Montano operated as one of these agents and secret counsellors to the king. Since then, however, little has been published about his political position and his real influence during the Dutch Revolt, despite the extent of the recent literature on Arias Montano. Only Herta Schubart,7 and later Ben Rekers, 8 have studied this aspect of his career, and they closely follow Morales Oliver’s main arguments. It is not a commonplace when J. Gil writes in his book Arias Montano. Bienes y Herederos that very much is known about Montano, but at the same time very little. My aim is to complete what is known about the role Montano played in the conflict in the Netherlands. The main source of this study will be primary documents, above all previously unpublished private correspondence. During the government of Alva (1568–1573): the unpublished correspondence between Arias Montano and the House of Alva Let us first summarize what is already known about Arias Montano in connection with the Duke of Alva. The six and a half years that Alva stayed in Flanders can be divided into three main periods: violent repression and the first war against the Orangists (1567–1568); truce (1569–1572); and the second war against the Orangists (1572–1573). At the beginning of his sojourn in Antwerp, the relationship between Alva and the Spanish theologian was close to friendship. Alva took

6 See L. Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política de Felipe II en Flandes (Madrid 1927), 107–108. 7 H. Schubart, ‘Arias Montano y el Duque de Alba en los Países Bajos’, in Renuevos de Cruz y Raya 4 (Santiago de Chile-Madrid 1962), 9–73. 8 B. Rekers, Arias Montano (Madrid 1973).

new documents on benito arias montano

237

an interest in Arias Montano as the King’s Chaplain and the supervisor of the edition of the Polyglot. Philip II asked Alva to offer Arias Montano ‘the warmth and the favour and the authority necessary to accomplish his mission’. 9 Very soon Alva himself appreciated his rich conversation and deep wisdom. 10 As for Montano, at the beginning of his sojourn in the Netherlands, he obviously, like the rest of the Spaniards, valued the efficacy of Alva, whose military skills had stopped the progress of Protestantism in the Netherlands with a clear victory over the rebels in 1568. Obviously, Arias Montano, a leading Catholic reformer, was appalled by the events of the first revolt (1566). He was deeply impressed by the destruction of religious objects and representations and the setting fire to abbeys, in particular the one ‘called the Dunes, that was the richest in good ancient books [. . .], reason why I felt deep pain because of my interest in good studies.’ 11 One should also emphasize that from 1568, when Alva defeated the first revolt, to 1572, when the second revolt began, Montano collaborated closely with Alva’s religious policy. In order to defend Catholicism by any means, the two of them were instrumental in producing the Index expurgatorius librorum qui hoc saeculo prodierunt (Antwerp 1571). The redaction of this list was ordered by the duke and executed by Montano.12 In his first report as a counsellor, written in February 1571, Montano supported the severity of Alva’s repression, which he

Philip II to Alva, 25 March 1568, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 114 (doc. 20). ‘The Duke enjoys his company very much, and they discuss thousands of excellent matters’, letter of Juan de Albornoz to Zayas, 29 June 1569, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 132 (doc. 22). 11 Arias Montano to Philip II, 6 July 1568, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 149 (doc. 149). Juan de Albornoz tells Gabriel de Zayas a curious anecdote that shows the close sympathy between Alva and Montano: ‘It was necessary to send ten companies of Spaniards to Louvain for some time, because those people are rather difficult. Representatives from the University, among them Arias, came to beg his Excellency [Alva] to withdraw his troops, a very erudite doctor addressed him with a very long and eloquent speech. The Duke, who had been in bed for twenty days, this being the first day that he had been out to Mass, had to stand throughout this long discourse. When it was finished, Arias Montano was moved to say: “Lord, since I also come from the University, they entrusted me to ask my colleague to give his speech again, in case your excellency did not admit our request.” The duke could not help laughing’; Juan de Albornoz to Gabriel de Zayas, 25 September 1569, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 132 (doc. 22). 12 See my article ‘La censura erasmista en el Índice Expurgatorio de 1571 a través de los documentos de Benito Arias Montano’, in M. Pérez González (ed.), Actas del Congreso Internacional sobre Humanismo y Renacimiento (León, 4–8 de junio de 1996) (León 1998), 1, 303–310. 9

10

238

antonio dávila pérez

considered necessary to stop any kind of heresy; the royal chaplain furthermore attacked the customs of the Flemish people, who were very fond of masquerades, drinking, and celebrating banquets. 13 In this context, it is not strange that when the Duke of Alva asked King Philip for permission to retire, in the Summer of 1571, Arias was one of the voices flatly opposed to that decision.14 Montano’s admiration for the duke reached its height when the humanist drew the design for a bronze statue of Alva that was placed in the citadel of Antwerp, and provided the following inscription: 15 Ferdinando Alvarez a Toledo, Albae dvc[i], Philippi II Hisp[aniarvm] apvd Belgas praefec[to], qvod extincta sedit[ione] rebellib[vs] pvlsis relig[ione] procvr[ata] ivstit[ia] cvlta provinc[iarvm] pacem firmar[at] regis opt[imi] ministro fideliss[imo] positvm. Erected in honour of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the most loyal minister of the most excellent King, Duke of Alva, prefect of Philip II of Spain in Belgium, because he strengthened the peace of the Provinces by extinguishing a revolt, expelling rebels, aiding religion and cultivating justice.

The first evidence that Montano’s opinion of Alva’s policy was beginning to change comes from the second part of 1571, when he censured a tax imposed by Alva to cover the huge wages of his army. The Tenth Penny was an annual tax that burdened every sale of chattels with a Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, 5 February 1571, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 200–234 (226–227). This is a long report of twenty-five pages written by Montano at the request of the king’s secretary. It is important to say that Arias informed Juan de Albornoz, Alva’s secretary, that the king was very interested to read this report: Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 18 April 1571, in Archivo de la Casa de Alva (Madrid, Palacio de Liria, C. 28/179). 14 Arias Montano to Juan de Ovando, 10 October 1571, in M. Jiménez de la Espada, El Código Ovandino (Madrid 1891), text quoted by Rekers, Arias Montano, 27: ‘I feel deep sorrow about the changes I have understood there are in the governance of this land; for I have seen how things have passed off so far and to which point they have come [. . .] and since I came to know in secrecy that the permission the Duke of Alva had asked had been granted to him, I feel deep grief.’ 15 The sculptor was Jacques Jonghelinck, who also worked for Alva in other iconographical projects. The statue was removed in 1574 as a consequence of the damnatio memoriae. This monument was welcomed neither in Antwerp nor in the Spanish court. We know the statue and the inscription thanks to an engraving by Paludanus; on this subject, see Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 136–144; J. Alba y Berwick, Discurso de entrada en la Academia de la Historia (Madrid 1919) and Schubart, ‘Arias Montano y el Duque de Alba’, 27–41. 13

new documents on benito arias montano

239

ten percent surcharge. Arias Montano dared to send the king, probably without informing Alva, a few lines of a letter written by the Lord Sheriff of Antwerp, in which he complains of the harm the new tax was doing among the population of the city. King Philip’s doubtful answer is to be found in an unpublished document preserved in Simancas (Valladolid) that has an obvious historical value: ‘This subject must be considered carefully, because, on the one hand, we have what they write, and on the other, what is there must be supported with Flemish money, since it is impossible with Spanish money.’ 16 The clearest change in Montano’s political position happened in the course of 1572: on 26 April he had to leave the Netherlands for Rome, in order to obtain papal approval for the Polyglot Bible. During the five months of his absence,17 the general rising and the revolt of 1572 took place. When Montano returned to the Low Countries on 1 December,18 he expressed deep pain at the situation he found: ‘It is a great ruin what I have found here, and my heart is broken since I have seen so much change.’ 19 Once the work on the Bible was over, the King asked him to remain in the Netherlands ‘above all because there are matters to my service that are entrusted to you.’ 20 From this period several documents are preserved in which Montano played a more active role as royal counsellor.21 It was during this time that he took a more active part in politics, and his contact with the king was direct. At the beginning of 1573 he protested against Alva’s methods of terror, and recommended ways of pacification in order to ‘recover the hearts’ of Philip II’s vassals

16 The lord sheriff of Antwerp to Arias Montano, 26 August 1571, manuscript copy kept in Archivo General de Simancas E, 546/25. 17 He left Rome at the beginning of October; see a letter from Juan de Zúñiga to Philip II, 13 October 1572, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 166 (doc. 48). 18 Arias Montano to Philip II, 18 December 1572, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde1568 hasta 1580, Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 273– 280. 19 Arias Montano to Juan de Ovando, 20 January 1573, in M. Jiménez de la Espada, ‘Correspondencia del Doctor Benito Arias Montano con el licenciado Juan de Ovando’, in Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 19 (1891), 497. 20 ‘He acordado que por agora os quedéis y residáis en ellos, mayormente que con esto ocurren cosas de mi servicio que ahí se os encomiendan’, Philip II to Arias Montano, 24 February 1573, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 167–168 (doc. 52). 21 There are three reports or ‘advertimientos’ addressed to the king (Archivo General de Simancas E, 583 and 983, and Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan 35/38); two letters to the king (Archivo General de Simancas, Estado, 167; Universidad de Sevilla Ms. 333–166). More references in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 13.

240

antonio dávila pérez

in the Netherlands. 22 And again, in the middle of 1573, he added new criticisms, above all concerning the attitude of Spanish soldiers: ‘The arrogance of our nation is unbearable.’ 23 According to him, the ideal solution was a general pardon, in opposition to the system of severity applied by Alva. Montano’s view of the Revolt of the Netherlands changed even with regard to the character of the native people: in contrast with his former tone of irritation, when speaking of the feasts and the masquerades that the Flemings were so fond of, 24 he now compared their banquets and carnivals with those of the ancient Greeks. 25 What has been said above on Montano and Alva is a synthesis of previous scholarship on this subject. According to the main documents published and studied by Morales Oliver, it seems obvious that Montano’s thinking shifted from support of Alva’s policy to urgently requesting a change of methods. I have recently had access to the original manuscripts of eighteen letters, as yet unpublished, written by Arias Montano and preserved in the archive of the House of Alva. This correspondence begins on 7 January 1569 and runs to 4 January 1574, and contains two letters to Alva, one to Alva’s steward, Juan Moreno, and sixteen to his secretary, Juan de Albornoz. It is now time to consider what the correspondence preserved by the House of Alva clarifies about two matters previously obscure: firstly, the causes of Montano’s change of view, and secondly, how this change affected the relationship between the governor and the humanist.

22 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, 27 February 1573, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 289–290. 23 ‘The arrogance of our nation in unbearable [. . .] and I am not speaking about the main ministers of our nation, but about the secondary and minor ones, who indeed use too much haughtiness towards others. This sours their attitude towards us, disrupting both the good course of affairs and the aide to business [. . .]. These states must never be granted to remain without Spanish soldiers, for this constraint is necessary for the nobles and for the riotous and rioters. Nevertheless, these soldiers must be in a specific amount and kept in hand [. . .] and there they must be well deployed and sorted out and disciplined.’ Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, (May 1573), in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 37, 89. 24 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, 5 February 1571, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 226–227. 25 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, November 1573, in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 268.

new documents on benito arias montano

241

These letters show that Montano was asked time and again to promote the private interests of his acquaintances, friends and intimates. In a letter to Zayas he complained that, as royal servant, more and more of his time was taken up with promoting the private interests of others.26 During his sojourn in the Netherlands, he acted as a commissioner and an intelligencer for Philip II, but also as a private adviser to Alva, the king’s governor general in the Netherlands. In this situation, appeals for intercession came either from Spain, as we have seen, or from Italy or the Netherlands. At the beginning of 1569, Arias asked the duke to give one of his soldiers permission to return to Spain in order to take care of a farm left him by his uncle, a distant relative of Montano.27 Four months later, he applied for the fortress of Pavía on behalf of Rafael Manrique, a former schoolmate and childhood friend, and brother of the Head Chaplain Luis Manrique, to whom Arias was very close.28 In April 1573, Montano visited Alva on the campaign at Nijmegen, asking him for help and intercession on behalf of Ascanius Caffarelus, a knight of the same order as Montano. Caffarelus wanted to collect a huge debt from Claudius Vandenberghe, ‘Dean or I do not know what dignity he has in Lille.’ 29 During the revolt of 1572, Plantin did not hesitate to make use of Arias Montano’s name to persuade the Duke of Alva to have the soldiers billeted on him moved elsewhere.30 When Montano learnt that he had permission to leave the Netherlands in the middle of 1574, his first reaction was anxiety that his return to Spain would cause among many people in the Netherlands, who appreciated his influence and mediations: ‘They all rise in joy upon hearing Montano’s name as the benefactor of the country and its citizens.’ 31

26 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, 4 January 1579, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 373–378. 27 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 7 January 1569, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Madrid), C. 28/168. 28 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 22 May 1569, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba, C. 28/171. 29 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 23 April 1573, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba, C. 28/183. 30 Cf. A. Dávila Pérez (ed.), Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia conservada en el Museo Plantin-Moretus de Amberes , Palmyrenus. Colección de textos y estudios humanísticos, serie textos 3, 1–2, 2 vols (Alcañiz-Madrid 2002), [72 06 09]. 31 ‘Ad nomen Montani tamquam benefactoris patriae et ciuium omnes assurgunt et laetantur.’ Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, 18 April 1574, in Correspondencia

242

antonio dávila pérez

From these unpublished letters preserved by the House of Alva, we have evidence of the ways in which Montano took part in the politics of the Netherlands. One of these was the recommendation of suitable local persons to civil and ecclesiastical posts. In 1571 he put forward the name of Franciscus Nansius for the post of magistrate in Bruges: Nansius was a friend of Justus Lipsius and Abraham Ortelius, both closely connected to Montano. 32 Franciscus Nansius surpasses everyone in integrity and excels in erudition; he is a man of means, and I am convinced that he will do an excellent job. Everything incites me to recommend him and to consider him an appropriate candidate for this task, especially since I am well aware of the kind of men a government needs for its administration. 33

Arias Montano was able to win the sympathy of the people. He even boasted that local inhabitants trusted him more than any other Spaniard: ‘since I am an impartial and quiet person, they dare to confess to me their concepts, their imaginations and their suspicions.’ 34 When he recommends the name of Nansius to Albornoz, he puts in practice his own principle of choosing local inhabitants for political and religious posts: ‘one of the reasons why the inhabitants of the Low Countries are unhappy is because they think they are excluded from taking part in the government.’35 The persons selected, who belonged to the culturally advanced elite of the Netherlands, were surely introduced to him by his friends there. The role Montano played as a link between the Spanish governor and the local upper classes also affected the world of arts: in his letters to Albornoz and Alva, he acts as a mediator in the contacts between Alva and, among others, the botanist Rember-

del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 304–305. 32 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 8 August 1571, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Madrid), C 28/168. 33 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 8 August 1571, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Madrid), C. 28–173. In September 1575, Franciscus Nansius thanks Montano for his recommendation to the post of burgomaster in Bruges (Plantin to Montano, 18 September 1575, in Dávila, Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia , 75 09 18. 34 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, May 1573 (? ), in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 37, 90. 35 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, May 1573 (? ), in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 37, 95–97.

new documents on benito arias montano

243

tus Dodonaeus,36 the sculptor Jacques Jonghelinck, 37 the engraver Guilielmus Paludanus,38 and the physician and humanist Johannes Goropius Becanus.39 The House of Alva correspondence confirms that Montano operated as the director of Alva’s religious policy, above all the repression of Protestantism in the books and pamphlets published in the Low Countries. The king was very satisfied with the results of his contribution to the Index prohibitorius of 1570 and the Index expurgatorius of 1571, and he explicitly told the duke to ‘make use of Montano and 40 Once provide him with similar tasks to serve God and the King.’ the index was finished, in a letter signed 22 August 1571, Montano urged the Duke of Alva to allocate a place for the building of the prototypographia regia, in order to facilitate Plantin’s job of checking the orthodoxy of the books published in the Netherlands. He suggested a plot next to Paludanus’s house, where the Jesuits also wanted to build a new school. 41 The new building, where Plantin could also install his presses, was a way of compensating the printer for a post without remuneration. The theologian used strong arguments to persuade Alva: ‘I think that His Majesty will be very satisfied with this matter, as he was with everything that has been done regarding doctrine and books.’42 Nevertheless, these plans were never carried out, due to lack of money. In 1572, there was a profound silence in the correspondence between Montano and Alva, obviously because of the former’s journey

36 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 14 February 1569, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Madrid), C. 28/169. 37 Arias Montano to the Duke of Alva, 11 December 1573, original in Archivo de Zabálburu (Madrid), C. 212/16. 38 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 8 August 1571, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Palacio de Liria, Madrid), C. 28/168; and Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 2 October 1571, Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Palacio de Liria, Madrid), C. 28/176. 39 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 14 January 1571, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Palacio de Liria, Madrid), C. 28/172. 40 Philip II to the Duke of Alva, 22 March 1570, text quoted by Rekers, Arias Montano, 26. 41 See A. Dávila Pérez, ‘La correspondencia inédita de B. Arias Montano: nuevas prospecciones y estudio’, in Benito Arias Montano y los humanistas de su tiempo , J.M. Maestre Maestre, E. Sánchez Salor, M.A. Díaz Gito, L. Charlo Brea, and P.J. Galán Sánchez (eds.), 2 vols (Mérida 2006), 1, 75–78. 42 Arias Montano to Duque of Alva, 22 August 1571, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Palacio de Liria, Madrid), C. 28/174.

244

antonio dávila pérez

to Rome and the duke’s military campaign during this period. But the unpublished letters preserved from after that year are worth careful examination. Although the tone of these eight letters and their main subjects (private matters, intercession in favour of artists, clergymen and humanists of the Southern Netherlands) do not show any change in the quality of the relationship between the humanist and the governor, some passages indicate that Montano’s views were shifting, as has been outlined above. It is, however, worthwhile to consider a quite interesting letter shedding new light on the subject at hand: on 28 March 1573, just in the period when most scholars speak of a confrontation between Alva and Montano, the theologian writes in terms of complete submission to the governor: If the Duke would have to stay in these States a long time, I would easily accept any task because of his benevolence and warmth. If, as you told me, he must leave for Spain, I hope that he will take me away from here in order to serve him there.

In this letter, Arias Montano severely attacked the attitude of the Dutch rebels, ‘with whom the Devil easily negotiates.’ As far as the methods of war were concerned, he recommended trying to defeat them by fair means first, but ‘when it is necessary to use force, we must do so bravely in order to bring them back to the right track, which they ran away from.’ 43 Hence this document casts doubt on the supposed friction between Alva and Montano from 1572 onwards. According to Montano’s extant reports to King Philip, so brilliantly studied by Morales Oliver, there was a world of difference in their opinions in 1573. Meanwhile, as the unpublished letters examined here have shown, the theologian could write letters of complete submission to the person and the political decisions of the duke. The subjective reasons for Montano’s shift from the defence of Alva’s policy to positions closer to the local point of view will be studied later, after our analysis of his political activities during the gentler regime of the new governor, Luis de Requesens. But taking into account the correspondence preserved in the archive of the House of Alva, it must be admitted that, although Montano changed his view of the turmoil in the Low Countries, as other counsellors and even King Philip did from 1572 43 Arias Montano to Juan de Albornoz, 28 March 1573, original in Archivo de la Casa de Alba (Madrid), C. 28–181.

new documents on benito arias montano

245

onwards, he did not withdraw his support from Alva. Moreover, even prior to the new governor’s arrival, he kept serving him in the way he had since the first years of his sojourn in the Netherlands. The most reasonable conclusion we can come to is to stress the great political and social skills of Montano, who, from his first youth, always showed a great talent to serve powerful men and to maintain these relationships for a long time. During the government of Luis de Requesens (1573–1575): the correspondence between Arias Montano and Juan de Zúñiga The new governor, Luis de Requesens, arrived in Brussels on 17 November 1573. On 29 November he was sworn in as Alva’s successor. During this second period (1573–1575) Arias Montano played a more remarkable political role. Once he had obtained papal approbation for the Polyglot Bible at the end of 1572, his mission as Royal Commissioner came to an end. Yet, in his reports of mid-1573, the king noted an exceptional ability to obtain direct information from the local governing classes, among whom Arias moved easily. On 17 June 1573, Philip II had already informed Alva of his replacement as governor, since measures other than severity were needed to solve the conflict in the Netherlands. 44 One month later, the king asked Montano to carry out new tasks as a secret counsellor: What His Majesty wants and in which you shall do him great service is that you hear from the locals themselves [. . .] what suitable solutions might be chosen [. . .] and that they say by what means they can be achieved [. . .]. His Majesty has a truly paternal desire for a solution, as you must make them understand everywhere and at every opportunity.45

Thus, Montano’s political influence grew from the very beginning of Requesens’s government. Alva stayed in Brussels until 18 December and during this month of overlap, he obviously advised and informed 44 Philip II to the Duke of Alva, 17 June 1573, in L.P. Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II sur les affaires des Pays-Bas publiée d’après les originaux conservés dans les Archives royales de Simancas , 5 vols (Brussels 1848–1936), 2, no. 127, text quoted by Rekers, Arias Montano, 38. 45 Gabriel de Zayas to Arias Montano, 17 June 1573, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 292.

246

antonio dávila pérez

the new governor, and even tried to persuade him to maintain his own harsh measures. But we know that Montano, obeying the King’s instructions, was also very close to Requesens and probably recommended a softer policy: [Montano] was in Brussels when the High Commander arrived and he spoke with him four times, for three hours each time, and sometimes with caution for they knew very well that there were spies and other people listening.46

Montano’s sympathy for the people in the Low Countries had increased. According to him, the best criterion to decide which political resolution was good or bad was the vox populi: ‘In the meantime there is a touchstone on which the metal of each reasoning can be tested, and this is the common people’s current voice. When all claim that a measure is a humiliation, it is truly so.’ 47 This is not the superficial judgment of a foreigner. In this assertion he shows his refined ability to analyse the Revolt of the Netherlands. Neither the opinion nor the interests of the inhabitants had ever been taken into account by their rulers, who were always seen as foreigners. Montano made an important effort to gain their trust. Hence it is logical that he continued to recommend local people for the main ecclesiastical and political posts: ‘The High Commander does me honour and favour and tells me, when we are together, some things about which I say what I dispassionately feel and think, and beyond this I give him news about some clergymen and laymen who in my opinion are perfect to serve.’ 48 As for the relationship between Requesens and Montano, we can confirm that it was forged long before 1573. In 1567 Luis de Requesens, then ambassador of Philip II in Rome, succeeded in obtaining a pension for Arias Montano upon his return from the Council of Trent.49 In May 1572, the Spanish theologian stopped in Milan while on his way to Rome to obtain approbation for the Polyglot Bible. At this time Requesens, also a knight of the Order of Santiago, was governor

46 Gabriel de Zayas to Philip II, 29 November 1573, in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 315–318. 47 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, November 1573, in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 327–328. 48 Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, 18 April 1574, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 303. 49 See Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 136–137 (docs 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12).

new documents on benito arias montano

247

of that region: on 21 May he wrote to his brother, Juan de Zúñiga, that he considered Montano a good friend. 50 We can now turn to analyzing two documents that shed some light on this period of Montano’s life, namely to two letters from 1573 that he addressed to Juan de Zúñiga, at that time Philip II’s ambassador in Rome. On 30 May, he wrote to Zúñiga a few favourable words about Alva. As for the miseries and war of Flanders ‘the duke does what he can, and it is more than anybody could expect considering his age and isolation [. . .]. Day and night he thinks of nothing but what is convenient to the well-being of these States without respect to his own health.’ Yet, in the postscript of the same letter, he seemed to have the secret information that Requesens had been chosen to replace Alva: ‘I am glad to have received a letter of 17 May from the High Commander, and I would be happier if what he said in that letter and what they wrote to me from Spain were to happen.’ 51 Once again we can see the political skill of Montano, who is able to survive successfully in the transition between two completely opposite regimes. In spite of this deep involvement in political matters, Montano’s letter to Zúñiga mainly contains passages showing an eagerness to obtain permission to leave the Netherlands in the middle of 1573. He knew that Zúñiga had remarkable influence with King Philip. Thanks to him, the latter had granted Arias a large amount of money that had long been requested to pay the debts incurred for the Polyglot Bible. Montano wrote that Zúñiga was ‘the most important voice he had in this business’,52 and made use of those letters to beg the ambassador to get the king’s permission for him to retire to the Peña de Aracena, his place of meditation in the South of Spain: I have never ever asked a thing for myself nor made the gentlemen I know at Court spend their time in asking anything for me beyond a place of retirement where I could end my life in study. 53 [. . .] Your Highness would help me in asking His Majesty a very great favour for me

50 Archivo histórico de Valencia de Don Juan 1/6, quoted by Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 236–237. 51 Arias Montano to Juan de Zúñiga, 30 May 1573, original in Pierpont Morgan Library (New York), RS, 1522, no. 454. This letter and the next one were recently edited by I. Lerner, ‘Dos cartas inéditas de Benito Arias Montano en la Morgan Library and Museum’, in Voz y letra 20.1 (2009), 129–140. 52 Arias Montano to Juan de Zúñiga, 28 June 1573, original in Pierpont Morgan Library (New York), RS, 1522, no. 455. 53 Arias Montano to Juan de Zúñiga, 28 June 1573, original in Pierpont Morgan Library (New York), RS, 1522, no. 455.

248

antonio dávila pérez which I hope shall be useful for our fellow men and of no expense to His Majesty, and that is, permission to retire in some seclusion and spend the rest of my life there. 54

These pleas, certainly, reached the king. After Montano’s return to Antwerp, in November of 1572, Zúñiga wrote to Philip as follows: It grieves [Montano] very much that Your Majesty charges him with business outside his profession and it seems to him that if Your Majesty would be kind enough to give him permission to retire he could serve the Church and Your Majesty very much by writing, and that the ones who have seen his works and understand how useful they are repeatedly put in his mind that he should continue writing. 55

These letters between Arias and the Spanish ambassador in Rome open a new field of research into the relationship between Montano and the Zuñiga family, two members of which were closely connected to him during their most important periods of power. But not much has been preserved from the surely huge correspondence between these three celebrities of the late sixteenth century. 56 In August 1574, Philip II finally decided that Montano should end his stay in the Netherlands and return to Spain to assume another official task, the cataloguing of the new library of the Escorial. In the spring of 1575 Arias left the Netherlands and went to Rome, where he stayed for over a year. According to the new documents studied here, the main aspiration of Montano from 1573 onwards was to be discharged from his duties as Royal Chaplain. Although his influence during Requesens’s regime became even more important, Montano’s letters to Zúñiga show a man deeply disillusioned with public life. After Arias Montano’s departure from Antwerp (1576–1598): the important role of Luis Pérez as an informant After his departure from Antwerp, Montano always kept up to date with what was going on in the Netherlands. Although his influence 54 Arias Montano to Juan de Zúñiga, 30 May 1573, original in Pierpont Morgan Library (New York), RS, 1522, no. 454. 55 Juan de Zúñiga to Philip II, 13 October 1572, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 166 (doc. 48). 56 Two more letters from Arias Montano to Juan de Zúñiga survive. The originals, very damaged, are kept in the Spanish Ministery of Foreign Affairs, Leg. 14 (nos. 371 and 372) and are dated 15 September 1577 and 17 October 1577.

new documents on benito arias montano

249

on events was obviously lessened, Montano received reports from his friends in the Netherlands and forwarded these to the King. Let us see who was working for Montano as his eyes in the Netherlands after he had returned to Spain. Hitherto two names are known as his informants: the printer Christopher Plantin and Laevinus Torrentius, second bishop of Antwerp. In the following lines I would like to present a previously unknown informant, in my opinion as important as the former two. The members of Plantin’s house called Montano their optimus patronus for many reasons: by means of his profound influence on King Philip, he obtained disbursal of payments to the printing house, always delayed, from the court of Madrid, and many profitable contracts such as the liturgical books (breviaries and missals) and even the post of proto-typographer for Plantin, which made all the important printers of the Netherlands subordinate to him. Plantin had been providing Montano with information since the period of his stay in Antwerp, but the passages describing the course of the war are longer and more frequent in the correspondence between the humanist and the printer after Montano’s departure. In Plantin’s letters we can follow the most relevant events of the Revolt of the Netherlands from the printer’s particular point of view: the general rising and revolt of 1572 is described in detail in the letters from Plantin to Montano, who was in Rome at that time. 57 The event that had the most terrible effect on Plantin’s Officina was the so-called Spanish Fury of Antwerp, at the end of 1576, when the Spanish troops from the citadel and the mutineers from the surrounding towns fell upon the city, drove out the troops of the States General, and plundered and murdered for days. The horror of the event stopped Plantin’s correspondence, among other causes because of the troubles of dispatching letters. Johannes Moretus, Plantin’s son-in-law, writes that the city of Antwerp had been turned to ash (concremata) and deeply afflicted (afflicta), and informs Montano on Luis Pérez’s crucial role as a protector and patronus during those terrible days.58 In 1578 Plantin sends Montano his last letter with clearly political contents: the printer, always from his personal point of view but also with sharp-wittedness, analyses the latest events in his home

57 See Dávila, Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia , [72 06 09], 72 06 21, [72 07 16], [72 07 19–72 07 25], [72 08 07–72 08 22], 72 08 29, and [72 11 01]. 58 See Dávila, Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia , [76 12 01–76 12 22].

250

antonio dávila pérez

town, harshly criticizing the patriotic front and its activists, from the lower classes—now extremely disciplined—up to the highest social spheres; at the end of the letter he even vents a sort of criticism against the Spanish Governor, Don Juan of Austria. 59 This is, as we have said, the most political letter exchanged between Plantin and Montano. From this point onwards, most of Plantin’s references to the political situation lack concreteness and blur into words of spiritual feeling and resignation.60 Plantin’s reports lack any philosophical stance or general principle in judging the facts, containing only a religious tone of resignation. There is no clue as to whether Montano forwarded Plantin’s reports to the Spanish Court, as he did those of other informants in the Netherlands. Plantin always made references to other informants who could provide Arias Montano with detailed reports of the course of the war. He himself just described the terrible consequences of the war to his family and business, and addressed Montano as a protector or patronus who could help them materially and spiritually. The second well-known reporter of Arias Montano is Laevinus Torrentius (Ghent, 1525—Antwerp, 1595), who was enthroned bishop of Antwerp in 1587, but who had been well acquainted with the Spanish theologian for many years. Arias himself recommended him to this see in May 1576. As we see, there is a relationship of gratitude and also patronage between this informant and Montano. Placing his friends in the most important ecclesiastical and civil posts was the only way for him to retain influence in the Netherlands after his return to Spain: Having heard that two bishops have passed away in Flanders, Jansenius of Ghent and Sonnius of Antwerp [. . .] I wanted Your Majesty to have good and certain information about many suitable people to choose for those ministries and other singular ones, and mainly for the church of Antwerp, which is of great importance to serve God and Your Majesty [. . .]. When I was there shortly before I left, the High Commander, God rest his soul, asked me for a list of clergymen and laymen I knew [. . .]. The first clergyman I mentioned was Dr Laevinus Torrentius [. . .] and I declared to know him from conversations and talks [. . .] throughout seven whole years, and not to have seen anywhere in the Low Countries, Italy or Rome a clergyman more appropriate as to his learning, his conscience and his negotiating skills. 61

Cf. Dávila, Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia , 78 07 00. See Dávila, Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia , 79 02 04, [88 08 27], and [88 12 13–89 01 07]. 61 Arias Montano to Philip II, 17 May 1576, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde1568 hasta 1580, Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 339. 59 60

new documents on benito arias montano

251

It is quite striking that this letter of recommendation was written in May 1576, that is, still before the death of Franciscus Sonnius, the preceding bishop († June 1576). Plantin himself wrote to Montano at the beginning of June that Sonnius was very ill, without any hope for recovery. Montano was in Rome and seemed to be in a hurry to put forward his candidate for the important see of Antwerp. And he succeeded because of his extreme diligence. Torrentius never hid the fact that Montano’s influence was conclusive for his appointment as bishop of Antwerp. 62 The surviving correspondence between Torrentius and Montano 63 runs from 15 July 1584 to 13 February 1595. These letters exceed a mere private correspondence: they are written as complete reports on the political situation in the Netherlands. In these increasingly pessimistic reports, Torrentius not only relates military events: he analyses the situation, judges the agents of the Revolt, and proposes solutions to restore Catholicism in the Netherlands. 64 He mainly argues for peace in his letters. As long as the war continued, the Netherlands would be a ruin. According to his idealistic point of view, two matters should be of overriding importance in the negotiations of peace with the rebel provinces: the restoration of the monarch’s authority and care for the Catholics of Holland. Protestants would be progressively converted. 65 As for the centralizing policy of Philip II, the bishop dared to ask for a more independent organization of the Netherlands, as during the time of Charles V. The inhabitants of the Netherlands were not rebel

62 ‘Quid enim honestius, quid dulcius, quid utilius amicitia tua? Quo magis indignor tot ultro citroque scriptas epistolas nobis periisse, idque eo maxime tempore quo tua cum auctoritate et consilio, tum fauore et gratia mihi praecipue opus fuit, ob nouam scilicet hanc dignitatem quae cum tuo potissimum studio atque opera delata mihi fuerit.’ Torrentius to Montano, 30 June 1588, in M. Delcourt and J. Hoyoux, Laevinus Torrentius: Correspondance, 3 vols (Paris 1950–1954), 2, 250, no. 437. 63 Copies of twenty-nine letters are preserved in the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels (Ms. 15704). There are two editions of this correspondence: M. de Ram, Compte rendu des Séances de la Commission Royale d’Histoire , Deuxième série 7 (Brussels 1855), 235–325; and Delcourt and Hoyoux. Recently a modern edition with introducion and translation of the correspondence between Torrentius and Montano appeared: L. Charlo Brea (ed.), Levino Torrencio. Correspondencia con Benito Arias Montano, Palmyrenus. Colección de textos y estudios humanísticos, Serie Textos 20 (Alcañiz-Madrid 2007). 64 See J. De Landtsheer, ‘Benito Arias Montano y sus amigos de su época amberiense’, in Benito Arias Montano y los humanistas de su tiempo , Maestre Maestre, Sánchez Salor et al. (eds), 1, 3–25. 65 Torrentius to Arias Montano, 29 August 1588. See in Delcourt and Hoyoux, Laevinus Torrentius, 2, 312–314, no. 479.

252

antonio dávila pérez

subjects who, as many Spaniards said, after the war would have the status of a mere province conquered by the King. 66 Even though Torrentius trusted that the King would follow his advice when Montano showed him his letters, Montano himself did not answer many of them. Nevertheless, he was resigned to not receiving answers as long as his letters came to the hands of the King. But Arias Montano only translated two Latin letters of Torrentius into Spanish and sent them to Madrid. 67 We do not know the exact reasons for this lack of diligence on Arias Montano’s part: besides his other occupations, the old Montano was probably no longer the influential counsellor who had the ear of King Philip as in the past. This lack of correspondence, together with the classic delay with which Philip II made his decisions, seriously taxed Torrentius’s patience. He ended and summed up his correspondence to Montano with a sort of political testament, asserting that he had always looked for the Lord’s glory and the good of his country. 68 Next to Plantin and Torrentius, there was a third informant, one ignored by all previous studies: Luis Pérez, a rich merchant from Jewish origins, whose family had settled in Antwerp in the first half of the sixteenth century. The relationship between the Pérez family and Montano still needs to be studied in more detail. He probably knew Luis before his sojourn in Antwerp, for in Seville he had been closely connected to Francisco Núñez Pérez, a member of another branch of the Pérez family. Luis was a close friend of Plantin, to whom he occasionally gave financial support, and soon became Montano’s closest friend in the Netherlands. Occasionally he also lent money to King Philip. Two unpublished letters from 1592, sent by Pérez to Montano are still preserved in the Archivo General de Simancas; they expound upon the Revolt offering a sharp analysis of the situation in the Netherlands.69 It was Arias who requested these precious reports, as can be deduced from the following passage:

66 Torrentius to Arias Montano, 3 July 1592. See in Delcourt and Hoyoux, Laevinus Torrentius, 3, 364–368, no. 975. 67 On 8 February 1590 and 13 October 1594 (in Archivo General de Simancas, Estado 169 and Ms. Stockholm 170, respectively). 68 Torrentius to Arias Montano, 13 February 1595. See in Delcourt and Hoyoux, Laevinus Torrentius, 3, 610–614, no. 1193. 69 Letters written on 19 March 1592 (original in Archivo General de Simancas, Estado, 169 /176); and on 3 March 1592 (original Archivo General de Simancas, Estado, 169 /178). Around that same time Montano dedicated to Pérez the commentary

new documents on benito arias montano

253

The return of His Highness’s [= Governor Alexander Farnese] with his army will also be a good thing, if what he said last night is true, that he is to come back to the Low Countries after having left in Rouen the military support and the ammunition needed to continue for many months the resistance against Henry of Navarre’s army who has put siege to the city. [. . .] If I acquire more definite information before closing this letter, I shall tell you, to oblige. 70

And at the end of this same letter, we come to know that Pérez’s reports ended up in the King’s hands. Arias had recommended his closest friend in the Netherlands as a merchant with a deep philosophical and intellectual formation: I should have moved just at your command and made myself sure that my loyal, unselfish, and dispassionate advice pleased His Majesty, whose welfare and his people’s I desire for the glory of God, to whom we all owe everything.

All scholars involved in the study of Arias Montano’s correspondence have wondered where the remaining part of their letters might be found, if still extant. The historical value of Pérez’s reports lies beyond all doubt: the influential merchant and banker not only refers to the military affairs of the moment, but he also pays attention to the criticisms, suspicions and accusations (even concerning the king or the pope) voiced by the main ecclesiastical and political members of Antwerp society: [. . .] which I deduced from words I heard of clergymen and laymen who shall not dare utter it in any other way. I want to record the words so that you do not suspect they are worse than they are. They criticize His Highness [= Farnese] very much for the four years he tolerated heretics in Antwerp without an army, because they kept their heads down, and two years in Brussels and in Bruges without end. And not only His Highness, but also His Majesty [= King Philip], who approved it, and when I

of one Psalm in his In XXXI Davidis psalmos priores commentarii (Antwerp: J. Moretus 1605), 118–119. After Plantin’s death, Luis Pérez was the main bond between Montano and the printing house of the Golden Compasses. On Luis Pérez, see Biographie nationale 17 (Brussels 1903), 13–15; Dávila, Benito Arias Montano. Correspondencia, 1, xxv–xxvi; D. Imhof, ‘De Spaanse koopman Luys Perez als financier van Jan Moretus’ uitgaven van Benedictus Arias Montanus’, in De Gulden Passer 83 (2005), 149–155. 70 Luis Pérez to Arias Montano, 19 March 1592 (original in Archivo General de Simancas, Estado, 169 /176).

254

antonio dávila pérez

Fig. 12. Benito Arias Montano, Letter to Johannes Moretus (4 May 1592). Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 76, f. 113

new documents on benito arias montano

255

referred this clergyman’s talk to our bishop, he said that it involved His Holiness [= Pope Clement VIII] as well, who had approved it. 71

Now I would like to turn to two more letters from Pérez to Montano. They have been published in the Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España as reports written in Spanish in 1577, addressed to Montano by an anonymous Antwerp source not long after Montano’s departure from the Netherlands. 72 Yet there are a number of arguments for identifying the author of these reports as Luis Pérez. Firstly, Montano sent a copy of both of them to the King with the note that they were written by ‘a good subject of His Majesty, born in that country’; as we have seen, fifteen years later, Arias Montano continued to send Pérez’s reports to Philip II. Secondly, they are written from Antwerp, where Pérez was born and lived, and in Spanish, the family’s mother tongue. Thirdly, the unnamed letters of the seventies relate current war news from a pacific perspective, in a way similar to the reports signed by Pérez in the nineties. Unfortunately, since the anonymous reports preserved in Simancas are copies made by Montano, we cannot compare the handwriting of these reports with autograph documents in Pérez’s hand, which would provide conclusive evidence. Nevertheless, the style and the language of the anonymous documents seem to be very close to that of the two letters signed by Pérez in the nineties. Among other minor coincidences, the author concludes his message with the same commonplace similary phrased: he apologizes for the extension of his report, but his intention is to serve his Majesty: Si me e alargado, V[uestra] M[erced] corrija mis faltas y las atribuya a este mi deseo que en esto aspira al servicio de Dios y de S[u] M[ajesta]d.73 If I went on too long, you may correct my mistakes and ascribe them to my wish of aspiring to God’s and His Majesty’s service.

Luis Pérez to Arias Montano, 19 March 1592. Letters written on 23 October and 23 November 1577, published in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 354–358 and 358–362 respectively. 73 Anonymous letter to Arias Montano, 23 November 1577, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 359 (the italics are mine). 71 72

256

antonio dávila pérez Y no sé cómo e alargado sin pensar de hazerlo. Deví moverme con mandármelo V[uestra] M[erced] y certificarme que mis avisos leales, claros y desapasionados eran gratos a Su Mag[esta]d.74 And I do not know how I went on too long without realizing it. I should have moved on by recommending me to Your Majesty and ensuring myself that my loyal, clear, and dispassionate advice pleased His Majesty.

Although this is just a tiny part of the correspondence exchanged between Montano and Pérez, it allows us to conclude that Luis Pérez was one of Spain’s most important informants on the war situation in the Netherlands, considering he must have been sending such letters over a period of more than twenty years. Montano probably refers to him as one of the contacts he had in Antwerp in one of his last testimonies on politics of the Low Countries, from the middle of 1595. I had many friends and acquaintances [. . .] and among them I enjoyed credit and confidence [. . .], while they trusted me more than any other Spaniards [. . .] and they informed me about what was kept in secrecy among them [. . .]. Many of these friends and informants have passed away, but I still have some important contacts left who keep trusting me.75

The service to his optimus patronus, King Philip, and to his protégés in the Low Countries compelled Montano to engage himself in such political negotia almost until the end of his life. Nevertheless, it is beyond all doubt that, after his departure from Antwerp, his influence on the political theatre of the Netherlands decreased for obvious reasons. Firstly, the geographical distance delayed and limited the value of the political advice about the Revolt he could send to the King: Philip II wanted counsellors in situ, able to observe the situation with their own eyes and offer solutions and advice based on their outstanding intellects and profound experience. Secondly, Arias was much occupied in missions of various duration and importance that kept him far from the political scene. Finally, in the last years of his life he seems to have been too tired and, at the same time, too concentrated on writing his works to dedicate much time to the situation in Neth74 Luis Pérez to Arias Montano, 19 March 1592, original in Archivo General de Simancas E 169/176 (the italics are mine). 75 Letter of Arias Montano, 11 May 1595, in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política, 356–357.

new documents on benito arias montano

257

erlands. Nevertheless, the voices of the social elites of the Netherlands, among whom Montano had been able to move freely during his seven years in the Low Countries, still came to the King’s ears thanks to the Spanish theologian. Until now, historians were only aware of Torrentius’s role as an informer on the political events and how they affected the religious situation. Thanks to Luis Pérez’s letters, this can now be completed with the perception of the urban bourgeoisie of the Low Countries, with whom Montano had such close connections too. Arias Montano’s shipwreck between Scylla and Charybdis When Montano arrived in Antwerp as royal commissioner, at the summit of his social recognition, he seemed anxious to take part in the politics of the Low Countries. A careful examination of Montano’s correspondence shows that the Spanish humanist wanted to participate actively in the political situation of the Netherlands from the very beginning of his sojourn in Antwerp. In the first letter he wrote to King Philip from Antwerp, dated 6 July 1568, he cautiously suggests him to visit this region in person as the most effective solution to abort new revolutionary attacks. For, to use Montano’s words, ‘the grace, the threat or the punishment of the father are more effective for the good of the family than anything and anybody else’. 76 Four months later, he offers himself as counsellor of the King in a letter to the royal secretary Gabriel de Zayas. 77 Montano thus seemed to be anxious of operating as a counsellor for the King, but the huge tasks concerning the Bible made it impossible to develop this function, at least until 1571. Philip II began to request political reports from his Chaplain at the end of 1572, after the conclusion of the Polyglot and Montano’s return from the journey to Rome. Yet the new documents studied here prove that, from Arias Montano to Philip II, 6 July 1568, in Carvajal, Elogio histórico, 149 (doc. 26). ‘Whenever you think I can write to His Majesty you will let me know, because if he is so kind as to let me simply write what I might feel as his good servant and as a Christian who knows some things, partly from having read, partly from what I have taken in over forty-three years of life, most of them travelling, and observation of what I have seen, and communication with people of all sorts, then I, in spite of being nobody in comparison to the many who serve His Majesty in this, shall do it without any other consideration than to serve God, him, and the public welfare.’ Letter of 9 November 1568, in Colección de Documentos inéditos 41, 135. 76 77

258

antonio dávila pérez

1573 onwards, just when Arias’s political influence was at its height, he only hoped to be discharged from his official duties and to retire in order to concentrate on his writings. In view of these facts, it seems to me that two kinds of shifts in Montano’s positions on the Revolt of the Netherlands must be examined: the first one belongs to the public context, that is the clear change in his letters to the king from support for Alva’s policy to insisting on new methods of pacification for the Netherlands. The second one has to do with the private sphere: something happened in Montano’s soul to turn his lively interest to take part in the politics of the Netherlands in 1568, into a request to be discharged from all his public duties in 1573. According to Rekers, Arias Montano’s political shift from a defence of Alva’s iron hand to more pacific positions corresponded to a deeper conversion (even spiritual) caused by the principles of the ‘Family of Love’. This is not the place to dwell upon the presence or not of this sect in Plantin’s circle, but most of the arguments that Rekers has presented in support of the view that Montano, a leader of CounterReformation, belonged to the sect called Familia Caritatis are weak. In my opinion, we need not propose adherence to any sect whatsoever in order to explain the irenic ideology that brought Montano to maintain contacts with Catholics and Protestants, or the preference he expressed for an internal religiosity over the formalism of ceremonies: these ideas simply show the heritage of the Erasmian philosophia Christi that he, and other Spanish humanists, learned at Seville and Alcalá. 78 As for Plantin, attention should be drawn to the strong evidence presented by Paul Valkema Blouw 79 that the printer’s first contacts with the sect had a mainly commercial aim. As a personal contribution, I studied an incorrect reading that appeared in the Correspondance de Christophe Plantin:80 where he wrote ‘regards to all the family of Plantin’ (omnis familia in the manuscript), the first editor of the text tran-

78 Moreover, Montano did not hide his acquaintance with persons of suspect orthodoxy, but even defended them in his works: in the preface of his Elucidationes in omnia sanctorum apostolorum scripta (Antwerp 1588) he confesses that he began to understand the book of Revelation thanks to the help of a ‘Christianae veritatis testis, cui nomen ipsa Christi virtus et veritas Hiel indidit.’ 79 ‘Was Plantin a member of the Family of Love? Notes on his dealings with Hendrik Niclaes’, in Quaerendo 23 (1993), 3–23. 80 Letter from Arias Montano to Christopher Plantin, [11–19] April 1576, in M. Rooses and J. Denucé, Correspondance de Christophe Plantin , 8 vols (Antwerp 1883– 1918), 4, 296.

new documents on benito arias montano

259

scribed ‘regards to the family of Love’ ( amoris familia).81 Subsequent literature, not only by Rekers, which portrays Plantin and Montano as adherents of that sect, has been based on erroneous readings such as this and—as Jeanine De Landtsheer explains 82—on a narrow interpretation of the Latin familia as ‘belonging to the Family of Love’ instead of its classical meaning ‘a group of people closely connected’. It seems to me that we have to put other private and public arguments forward to explain why Montano changed his political positions so strongly from the period of Alva’s government to that of Requesens. As far as the public situation was concerned, the political context also changed considerably from 1568 to 1572: at the beginning, after the iconoclastic fury, Alva’s toughness was justified, but later on peaceful measures were more appropriate. When Montano wrote reports favouring a paternal policy in opposition to Alva’s hard regime in 1573, he was doing the same as other counsellors from the Netherlands, such as Joachim Hopperus, Stephen Praets and even Juan de la Cerda, duke of Medinaceli, who are not thought to belong to any sect. The correspondence preserved by the House of Alva shows that there was no breach in the relationship between Montano and the governor, and, as mentioned before, we even find words of complete submission to Alva in letters from Montano as late as 1573. As for the private circumstances, Montano’s shift from an interest in politics to the request for retirement has not been studied yet. It seems to me that the most important matter to explain this change is the sense of frustration (let us call it personal shipwreck) the humanist experienced at the end of 1572. The two official tasks he undertook for the King were not as successful as the humanist had hoped. As regards the Bible, the negative reactions came not only from the Calvinist front, but also from the Catholic: Arias had to make the fullest use of his diplomatic means to get Rome’s approval of the Polyglot. 83 Besides, two persecutors severely attacked the orthodoxy of this Bible for years:

81 See my article ‘Dos lecturas erróneas ( omnis familia / amoris familia y simque/ sinque). Consecuencias en la bio-bibliografía de Arias Montano (1527–1598) y de la imprenta plantiniana’, in Lias 30 (2003), 299–309. 82 De Landtsheer, ‘Benito Arias Montano y sus amigos de su época amberiense’, 24. She is also preparing an article proving that Rekers, among others, was wrong in considering Arias Montano a member of the Family of Love. 83 On the Biblia Regia and the polemics that arose from it, see B. Macías Rosendo, La Biblia políglota de Amberes en la correspondencia de Benito Arias Montano (Ms. Estoc. A 902) (Huelva 1998).

260

antonio dávila pérez

the Salamanca theologian León de Castro in Spain, and the Bishop of Roermond, Guilielmus Lindanus, in the Low Countries. 84 Even the Expurgatory Index of 1571 was criticized in Rome. Montano’s middle position in the field of biblical philology did not satisfy anybody. This shipwreck upon the cliff of Charybdis (i.e., religion) surely caused a deep frustration. But Montano was also shipwrecked on the cliff of Scylla (i.e., politics). Regarding his role as unofficial ambassador of the king, let us remember the deep pain he felt at the ruinous state of the Netherlands when he came back from Rome, at the end of 1572. At that moment Montano, like many Spaniards, including King Philip, understood that severity was not an appropriate way to pacify the Netherlands. After four years in Antwerp, his distress and his political arguments were also motivated by the huge number of local acquaintances from various social circles he considered protégés. In 1573, when the King gave him a more prominent role as unofficial counsellor, many people doubted that a scholar like Arias Montano had the necessary political insight. For instance, Maximilian Morillon, vicar-general of Cardinal Granvelle, was clearly opposed to the actions of the Spanish counsellor. The correspondence between Morillon and Granvelle includes several passages extremely critical of the political decisions inspired by Montano. With regard to the statue of Alva (cf. supra, n. 15) and the negative reaction it caused among the inhabitants of the Low Countries, Morillon writes: ‘For this foolishness I blame Montano, who committed it, rather than Alva.’ 85 A few days later, on 19 July 1574, Morillon criticized the excessive influence of Montano on the new governor Luis de Requesens: ‘I believe he receives fewer dispatches from the King than Arias, which makes many laugh,’86 and: ‘[. . .] He governs the governor easily, and receives more letters and packets from the King

84 See my article ‘La polémica Arias Montano—Wilhelmus Lindanus: un nuevo documento (AGR I 115, nº 3714)’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 49 (2000), 139–165. 85 ‘J’impute plus cette foly a celluy qui l’a feit, que fust Arias, qu’a luy’, Morillon to Granvelle, 14 June 1574, in E. Poullet and C. Piot, Correspondance du Cardinal de Granvelle, 1565–1586, 12 vols (Brussels 1877–1896), 5, 138; text quoted by Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 143. 86 Morillon to Granvelle, 19 July 1574, in Poullet and Piot, Correspondance du Cardinal de Granvelle, 5, 165. Text quoted in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 293–294.

new documents on benito arias montano

261

than the Commander.’ 87 Morillon voiced even harsher criticism, that Montano was arrogant: He has boasted he shall clean the whole country of heresies in four months: please God they were as many years! He is not the man [for this task], and those who carefully leaf through his Bible consider it unworthy of being mentioned frequently. 88

In order to understand the political movements of Montano regarding the Revolt of the Netherlands, we must consider the internal tension between, on the one hand, his request for retirement—in my opinion due to those failures in political and religious matters explained above—and, on the other hand, his acute skill in taking part in human negotia. On his social promotion from his humble origins in Fregenal (Extremadura) to his appointment as an unofficial ambassador of the Spanish Crown, a recent study by Guy Lazure 89 outlining the unwritten rules of the complex system of patronage and the dynamics of favour and obligation that system implied, makes essential reading. From his earliest youth, Montano showed a great talent for recognizing and obtaining the favour of the men whose influence could help him in his personal aspirations. During his stay in the Netherlands, he rendered services to the most powerful patronus of the period, King Philip, but, as we have seen, he also managed to get the sympathy and favour of the two Governors General, Alva and Requesens, through their confidants Juan de Albornoz and Juan de Zúñiga, respectively. Montano even knew how to keep the powerful influence of Alva, although his reports to the king were opposed to the policy of the governor. Besides, Montano always mixed easily in the leading political, ecclesiastical, intellectual and economic circles of the Netherlands.90 This explains why the king appreciated his counsellor’s advice 87 Morillon to Granvelle, September 1574, in Poullet and Piot, Correspondance du Cardinal de Granvelle , 5, 236. Text quoted in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política, 293–294. 88 Morillon to Granvelle, 19 July 1574, in Poullet and Piot, Correspondance de Granvelle, 5, 165. Text quoted in Morales Oliver, Arias Montano y la política , 295. 89 ‘Mecenazgo y clientelismo en los años sevillanos de Benito Arias Montano. Genealogía social e intelectual de un humanista’, in Benito Arias Montano y los humanistas de su tiempo, Maestre Maestre, Sánchez Salor, et al. (eds), 1, 111–124. See also Lazure’s doctoral dissertation, ‘To Dare Fame: Constructing a Cultural Elite in Sixteenth Century Seville’ (Baltimore, MD, March 2003). 90 ‘In conversations, secrectly and in public, the locals dare to declare their concepts, imaginations, and suspicions in front of me as a dispassionate and quiet person, which they do with few of our nation, and so I can say some things which are not

262

antonio dávila pérez

so much. It was precisely because of his willingness to serve the king and to oblige the friends he patronized among the upper class of the Netherlands that Montano remained caught in the bustle of politics to the end of his life, in spite of his want for total calm.

revealed to others.’ Arias Montano to Gabriel de Zayas, without date, in Correspondencia del Dr. Benito Arias Montano . . . desde 1568 hasta 1580 , Colección de Documentos inéditos 37, 90.

HUMANIST FRIENDSHIP, POLITICS AND RELIGION IN MARNIX’S CORRESPONDENCE JUST BEFORE THE FALL OF ANTWERP: INCONSTANCY OR CONSTANCY?* Rudolf De Smet (Brussels) The correspondence of Philip van Marnix, Lord of St Aldegond, right hand of William the Silent, is extensive and varied. We have chosen to analyse a sample of letters simply from the period from 1582 to 1584. The reasons for this are in part intrinsic to the sample and in part purely practical. Let me start with the practical reason. Part IV of the Marnixi Epistulae, a series initiated by my friend and colleague Alois Gerlo, whose loss is still mourned, and by myself, was issued the week of the colloquium ‘Between Scylla and Charybdis’. 1 Parts I–III appeared between 1990 and 1996; part IV was elaborated as a component of the project Intellectuals on the Crossroads of Politics and Religion. Two case studies: Justus Lipsius and Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde , a project in which Jan Roegiers, Dirk Sacré, Jeanine De Landtsheer, Filip Vanhaecke and myself were involved. 2 This made the selection of the period 1582–1584 for analysis fresh, timely and comparatively easy. But it has already been intimated that there are other reasons for looking at these letters in particular. The newly published volume sheds light on a key period of the history of the Low Countries and some of the most turbulent years of Marnix’s life. During these crucial three years the rebels in the Low Countries solicited and ultimately rejected the leadership of Hercules-François, Duke of Anjou and Alençon, the youngest son of Henry II of France and Catherine de’ Medici; Marnix himself served as one of the burgomasters of Antwerp; William of Orange was murdered; Bonaventura Vulcanius attempted to get the States General to adopt Marnix’s metrical psalms for public worship; * I am indebted to Filip Vanhaeke and Paul Arblaster for correcting and polishing my English. 1 Marnixi Epistulae. De briefwisseling van Marnix van Sint Aldegonde, een kritische uitgave, Pars IV (1582–1584). In memoriam Aloysi Gerlo , R. De Smet (ed.) (Brussels 2006) [henceforward MEp]. 2 FWO-Vlaanderen, project G.0103.03N (1 January 2003–31 December 2006).

264

r ud olf de s met

Fig. 13. Hendrik Hondius, Portrait of Philip Marnix of St-Aldegonde, engraving 1599. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PK-P-122.960

inconstancy

or constancy?

265

Fig. 14. Philips Marnix of St-Aldegonde, Letter to Bonaventura Vulcanius (20 September 1589). Leiden University Library, ms. Vulc. 106:1

266

r ud olf de s met

and the city of Antwerp was besieged by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma: all these events happened within these crucial three years. Precisely because his assignment as buitenburgemeester (first or ‘external’ burgomaster) of Antwerp was to have such a profound impact on Marnix’s life, we included in this volume most of the letters to and from the city council of Antwerp, in which Marnix played a pivotal part. In fact, the style of this correspondence shows very clearly that Marnix can be considered the author of most of the letters sent out from Antwerp council or, conversely, as the main addressee of incoming letters. Some of these documents are published for the first time; most, but not all of them, were listed in Gerlo’s inventory of the correspondence of Marnix. 3 Following the criteria of selection in the previous parts of the series it was decided to include the epistolary treatises, pastoral letters, etc., which means that the volume also contains the continuation of the paper war between Marnix and the Leuven theologian Michael Baius (Michel de Bay) on the topic of transubstantiation. What started as a normal, albeit polemical correspondence between the two scholars, very soon developed into a series of published epistolary treatises obviously exceeding ordinary letters in length. In this we felt methodically supported by Erasmus’ enlarged definition of the concept ‘letter’, as developed in his De conscribendis epistolis.4 But nevertheless the question whether such essay-letters should be considered as part of a correspondence stricto sensu remains one of the problems an editor of a sixteenth-century epistolary corpus has to address. With regard to the use of language in the letters under consideration, I can only confirm what I have already observed previously in ‘Taal, context en conventie in Marnix’ correspondentie’. 5 Here too, the choice of language is completely determined by what Joshua Fishman called linguistic domains,6 a concept also used by Peter Burke in his 3 A. Gerlo, De briefwisseling van Philips van Marnix, Heer van Sint Aldegonde. Een inventaris. The Correspondence of Philip of Marnix, Lord of Saint Aldegonde. An inventory, Bibliographica Neerlandica 14 (Nieuwkoop 1982), 102–106. 4 Desiderius Erasmus, De conscribendis epistolis, in Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami, ASD I-2, J.-C. Margolin (ed.) (Amsterdam 1971), 224–225 and 310–579 (esp. 310–315). 5 Cf. R. De Smet, ‘Taal, context en conventie in Marnix’ correspondentie’, in H. Duits and T. Van Strien (eds), Een intellectuele activist. Studies over leven en werk van Philips van Marnix van Sint Aldegonde (Hilversum 2001), 37–50. 6 J. Fishman was the first to use the concept of ‘domain’ in the meaning of ‘situation of linguistic use’ (e.g. working environment, family, friends, church, …) in the field

inconstancy

or constancy?

267

prominent analysis of the use of post-medieval Latin. 7 This explains easily why Marnix corresponded in Latin with his friend and close assistant from Bruges, Bonaventura Vulcanius, whereas he preferred French in his letters to the English ambassador, Francis Walsingham. A remark made in the aforesaid article concerning the theological domain holds true here as well: church organization is not the same as theology. In the Protestant Church the former was discussed in the vernacular language, the latter in Latin. Hence the correspondence with the theologian Michael Baius is written entirely in Latin. So much for our general frame of reference. Let us now look more closely at the correspondence, concentrating on humanist friendship, politics and religion as main points of interest. Humanist friendship It cannot be denied that friendship is among the most, if no t the most frequent topos in h umanist correspondence. Inspired by such texts as Cicero’s De amicitia, Seneca’s Epistulae morales ad Lucilium, or some Epicurean maxims, the friendship topos emerges in almost every humanist letter, to the extent that the modern reader wonders how sincere these testimonies of friendship might be, and how much merely conventional politeness. It is tr ue that we can hardly qualify Marnix as a pur sang humanist, that is t o say a s cholar chiefly devoting himself to studying and editing, or to composing, texts in L atin or Greek. Marnix’s main activities rather manifested themselves in the fields of diplomacy, politics and polemics on the one hand, and theology on the other. Yet one should not forget that this jack-of-all-trades studied the artes in Leuven before setting out for his Iter Italicum in the company of his elder brother Jean (Jean de Toulouse), and that he only took up his study of Protestant theology in Geneva, initially under Jean Calvin but chiefly under Theodorus Beza, when returning from Italy to the Low Countries.

of sociolinguistics. He defined it concisely in one of his articles, ‘Who Speaks What Language to Whom and When’, in La Linguistique 2 (1965), 67–88. A revised version of his theory appeared in 1972 entitled ‘The Relationship between Micro- and MacroSociolinguistics in the Study of Who Speaks what Language to Whom and When’, in J.B. Pride and J. Holmes (eds), Sociolinguistics (Harmondsworth 1972), 15–32. 7 P. Burke, ‘Heu domine, adsunt Turcae. A Sketch for a Social History of PostMedieval Latin’, in P. Burke and R. Porter (eds), Language, Self, and Society. A Social History of Language (Cambridge 1991), 23–50.

268

r ud olf de s met

His whole life was marked by his humanistic moral and philosophical roots, which are also present in the part of the correspondence under consideration. Marnix maintained contacts with the most representative members of the Republic of Letters. One particular example can suffice: his correspondence with Justus Lipsius. In as far as it is preserved, it consists of eight letters, six letters from Lipsius to Marnix and two the other way around, all written between 1582 to 1589, at the time when Lipsius was living in Leiden. 8 Five of these letters are situated in Marnixi Epistulae IV: four from Lipsius to Marnix, one from Marnix to Lipsius. The first letter to be preserved (a necessary qualification, because it is obviously an answer to a letter that has been lost) was written by Lipsius to Marnix on 4 February 1582. It deals with a request from archprinter Christopher Plantin and Marnix that Lipsius compose a grammar book. Lipsius’s answer is strategically evasive, because his interests manifestly tended in a different direction. Marnix received greetings from a number of prominent members of Leiden University: Janus Dousa, Lambertus Danaeus, Hugo Donellus, the newly-appointed professor of Greek Bonaventura Vulcanius, and town secretary Jan van Hout. Lipsius declares himself here one of the amatores virtutis et doctrinae of Marnix. In brief, it is just another of those typical humanist letters. The second preserved letter as well is also clearly a reply to a letter now lost. However, its subject was of a more intimate nature than the first one. Lipsius now touched upon a quite delicate matter for Marnix: son Jacob, something of a problem child who had been predestined for the artes, but who actually ended up as a soldier. To quote Lipsius: About your son [Jacob]: he visits me often telling me about his occupations and his studies. To me at least, he is speaking easily and in Latin. Time and again I have given him exercises, with particular attention to style, which he needs to build at this stage. 9

8 Lipsius’s letters to Marnix are: ILE 1, 82 02 04; 82 03 17; 2, 84 01 03 M; 84 03 13; 86 04 01 M; 3, [89] 09 30; Marnix’s to Lipsius are ILE 1, 83 12 19 M; 2, 86 02 14. ILE refers to Iusti Lipsi Epistolae , A. Gerlo, M.A. Nauwelaerts, and H.D.L. Vervliet et al. (eds) (Brussels 1978– ). As already said, all of the discussed letters are part of Marnixi Epistulae, pars IV, with the same Arabic numerals. 9 Cf. ILE 1, 82 03 17: ‘De filio tuo sic habe. Saepe ad me ventitat et de statu rerum studiorumque suorum narrat. Sermo illi apud me quidem promptus et Latinus. Exercitia etiam praescripsi non semel, praesertim ad stilum, quem formet necessum est in hac aetate.’

inconstancy

or constancy?

269

And he continued that, as he was somewhat disappointed in the boy’s tutor, he was looking out for a replacement with larger erudition and greater pedagogical talents. Apart from that, the letter spoke about troubles at Leiden University and a quarrel with Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert. It is striking how Marnix’s son is an ever-recurring item in the correspondence between the two men, but also in Marnix’s correspondence with Vulcanius and Donellus. The third preserved letter is from Marnix to Lipsius. His obligations and tasks as a burgomaster of Antwerp do not leave him much time for leisure. Nevertheless: I have read and eagerly devoured your De constantia, a truly divine work. I may die if I have ever read anything more beautiful or noble, ever anything that affected me more deeply. While at the same time revealing the mysteries of theology in an honest and transparent way and disclosing the innermost secrets of true philosophy by its erudition, it brightly offers consolation to the mind. […] Do proceed successfully on the chosen way. Take care not to delay for too long the promised Thraseas or The contempt of death , or if it is already available, do send it to me. […] Should you visit Antwerp, do certainly not forget to come and greet me; nay, make sure that you stay nowhere else than at my place.10

Although the style fits perfectly with humanist epistolography, one immediately recognizes that Marnix’s respect for Lipsius’s works must have been genuine. Humanist friendship also crossed the borders of formalism. Lipsius, who generally acted with much caution, did not hesitate to ask Marnix for advice in 1586 concerning a temporary or a definitive departure from Leiden.11 Of course there are the ever-returning complaints about his liver disease, which had by then become chronic, but he makes explicit and sincere reference to the turbae (mainly academic and theological conflicts, not only within the University, but also between professors and ministers of the Protestant congregations of the town) and to the unrelenting threat of war.

10 Cf. ILE 3, 83 12 19 M: ‘Divinum tuum, mi Lipsi, De constantia librum et legi, et perquam avide hausi. Moriar, si quicquam unquam legerim venustius, quicquam praeclarius, quicquam quo fuerim affectus magis. Ita et Theologiae arcana aperit syncere, et verae Philosophiae adyta recludit erudite, et animi solatia proponit luculenter. [ . . . ] Tu quo coepisti pede feliciter perge. Quem polliceris librum Thraseam sive De contemptu mortis, vide ne diutius differas; vel si etiam est editus, ad me mittas. [ . . . ] Quodsi in hanc urbem te contingat venire, vide ne id me fiat insalutato, imo ne alio quam meo utare hospitio.’ 11 Cf. ILE 2, 86 04 01 M.

270

r ud olf de s met

The most convincing proof of the honesty of their friendship can perhaps be deduced from the fact that both humanists remained interested in each other even after Lipsius’s departure from Leiden in 1591. In March 1592 Gedeon van den Boetzelaar could still write of the affection that his uncle Marnix continued to cherish for Lipsius, 12 and in 1595 Lipsius, in a letter to one of his former students, the Leiden-born Gerardus Buytewech, expressed delight at the benevolence shown by the States General towards Marnix by appointing him as a Bible translator and rewarding him with a generous remuneration. 13 Moreover, apart from their correspondence there is still another element confirming Marnix’s unchanged interest in his friend Lipsius, namely the contents of his library. Its auction catalogue lists almost the totality of Lipsius’s works, including those published after his return to the Catholic South, up to the Admiranda, which became available around March 1598, half a year before Marnix’s death on 15 December. 14 Politics In almost every single letter political issues are discussed as well, beginning with the possible investment of the Duke of Anjou as sovereign of the provinces that had repudiated the sovereignty of Philip II. Orange and Marnix were looking for support from a mighty ally to fight back against Spain. France and England seemed to be appropriate partners; a coalition with both countries would be even better. In 1581, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Plessis, Marnix accompanied Anjou and his retinue on a journey to England; they crossed the Channel on 31 October.15 During their sojourn at the English court Marnix’s patience was almost exhausted by the endless dawdling of Anjou, who was negotiating with Queen Elizabeth about a possible marriage in order to create a French-English coalition against Spain. The whole winter Marnix and his fellow envoys attempted to speed the duke’s coming to the Netherlands. Finally, Elizabeth declined the proposal of her ‘little frog’, but promised nonetheless to support the rebels in the Nether-

Cf. ILE 5, 92 03 06 BO. Cf. ILE 8, 95 08 09 BU. 14 See G.J. Brouwer (ed.), Catalogue of the Library of Philips van Marnix van SintAldegonde (Nieuwkoop 1964). The relevant items are published in appendix. 15 MEp 3, 81 11 10. 12 13

inconstancy

or constancy?

271

lands. Marnix was relieved when he was finally able to announce the coming of Anjou to the Council of State of the Low Countries in a letter dated on 27 January 1582. 16 About one month later, on 22 February, he conveyed his gratitude to the queen of England in a bombastic, affected style to thank her: The hospitality which Her Majesty granted to His Highness Anjou at the occasion of his coming to the Netherlands was such a clear proof of her will to preserve this state, that Marnix has the boldness to bother her with a letter in order to thank her very humbly for this benefaction. 17

What a contrast with Marnix’s depression a year later! The ‘French Fury’ on 17 January 1583, an attempt by Anjou to consolidate his position in the Netherlands by force, not only turned out to be a disaster for himself, but also deeply shocked everyone in the Low Countries who wanted to steer a pro-French course. Theodorus Beza, under whom Marnix had studied theology, and Rodolphus Gualterus (Gwalter), who had instructed him in the art of politics, were also horrified at the thought that the Low Countries would enter into a coalition with France via Anjou. In March Gualterus even spoke in terms of Alençoniana perfidia. Orange and Marnix lost face, and Marnix had to face open criticism from citizens and vigilantes in the streets of Antwerp. In a letter to the States of Holland from 11 February 1583 he explained his precarious financial situation,18 but nevertheless resigned his membership of the Council of State, left Antwerp, and went to live, almost without an income, in West Souburg on the island of Walcheren. But the tide was soon to turn. On 30 November he was appointed first burgomaster of Antwerp, after having declined Orange’s offer of the governorship of Bruges.19 The burgomastership turned out to be a poisoned gift. In addition, half a year later, on 10 July 1584, Orange was murdered in Delft, so that the revolt lost its key figure.20 Again support was solicited from the English, as becomes clear from Marnix’s lively correspondence with Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s ambassador, and with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who acted as the queen’s governor general in the Northern Low Countries between

16 17 18 19 20

MEp 4, 82 01 27. MEp 4, 82 02 22 E. MEp 4, 83 02 11. MEp 4, 83 12 15. MEp 4, 84 07 23.

272

r ud olf de s met

Fig. 15. Philip Marnix of St-Aldegonde, inscription in Album amicorum of Janus Dousa. Leiden University Library, ms. BPL 1406, f. 97r

inconstancy

or constancy?

273

1586 and 1588. However, strengthening the bonds with England did not keep Marnix from making overtures to France as well. Shortly after the death of Anjou (at Château-Thierry on 10 June 1584), direct contacts were made with Henry III and the Queen Mother Catherine de’ Medici. Being the first member of the government of Antwerp, Marnix wrote to both of them separately. Hence, the very king who some years before his accession to the throne had been co-responsible for the massacre of Saint Bartholomew (24 August 1572) and the harsh oppression of the Huguenots, was approached by one of the most prominent Calvinists with a plea to assume the sovereignty of the Netherlands! And what to think of the letter to Catherine de’ Medici, the main plotter of the massacre? 21 This is definitely a Marnix who was compelled by the circumstances to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis, and the close connection between politics and religion is evident. This interrelationship seems to be illustrated in a metaphorical way by Marnix’s motto ‘Repos ailleurs’, illustrated in the libri amicorum of Abraham Ortelius and Janus Dousa by the picture of a ship making its way between two sea monsters (see Fig. 15). 22 In other words, the correspondence shows a man who was compelled to subordinate or even set aside his religious convictions under the pressure of political circumstances, when the defence of Antwerp against Farnese, at the end of 1584, had become hopeless. Religion The foregoing already indicates that the distinction between politics and religion in Marnix’s letters is often very vague. Even in the explicitly theological correspondence with Baius, politics arise. Marnix points out, for instance, that Baius’s reproach that the Protestants

MEp 4, 84 11 26 C MAG and MEp 4, 84 11 26. See Abraham Ortelius’s Liber amicorum, f. 42r and Dousa’s Liber amicorum, f. 97r. The original album, for a long time preserved at the library of Pembroke College, is now at Cambridge University Library, ms. 2.113. See also A. Ortelius, Album amicorum: édition facsimilé avec notes et traduction , J. Puraye et al. (eds), in De Gulden Passer 45 (1967), 42. The French translation with commentary and a short bibliography, ibid., 46 (1968), 38–39 (a separate edition appeared in Amsterdam in 1969). Dousa’s album is preserved at Leiden University Library as ms. BPL 1406. For a facsimile, see C. Heesakkers, Een netwerk aan de basis der Leidse universiteit: Het album amicorum van Janus Dousa (1545–1604). Facsimile uitgave van hs. Leiden, UB, BPL 1406, 2 vols (Leiden 2000). 21 22

274

r ud olf de s met

turned against King Philip II of Spain is hypocritical: first Baius and his peers, the Leuven theologians, were abandoning their king because of the tyranny of the Spanish, but then, with the turning of the tide, they became his devotees taking up arms against their own country and restoring Spanish despotism. The Calvinists should not be considered as deserters from Faith in the sense of the universally binding faith, but from the creed of Rome. Was Baius perhaps forgetting the aggression, massacres, tortures, pillages in France, Germany, England, Italy, Spain, and even in the remote part of the West Indies? The civil war raging in the Low Countries was a testimony of the unflagging zeal with which the pope of Rome and the local magistrates endeavoured to preserve their power, their pleasures, and their privileges. The same was true for the proscription lists of ‘His Serene Highness’, King Philip of Spain. Baius blamed the Protestants for their cruelty. Yet could one indeed speak of cruelty when men goaded by all kinds of outrages, refused to endure all this with patience, and out of sheer necessity took up arms? Whoever was behaving peacefully and tranquilly had nothing to fear from the Protestants because of his faith .23 This is only one example of the numerous politico-religious reproaches in a letter ostensibly about transubstantiation. Baius, in his elaborate answer, retaliated in a similar way, referring to one of his previous letters, stating that the Roman Catholics had not forsaken their faith and their king by opposing the established faith and its institutions, but the Protestants. Moreover, by renouncing the Roman creed, they had declared themselves deserters from the true Faith .24 Baius supported his point of view by quoting Marnix himself. In front of a professional court, he asserted, the king’s case would be quickly settled, but one had to assume that not every one was equally competent in this matter. Again this is only one example from the many in this letter. Conversely, chiefly political correspondence is often interwoven with references to religious matters. When the people of Ghent were about to surrender to Farnese, Marnix explicitly warned them against empty promises concerning freedom of religion: To surrender to people who hate the true Evangelical religion, and who, moreover, have themselves surrendered to the Spanish, is an absolutely

23 24

MEp 4, [82 00 00]. MEp 4, [83 00 00].

inconstancy

or constancy?

275

stupid thing to do, if one believes that this alliance will bring peace and freedom. It should be compared to looking for fire in the water, or light in the deepest darkness. 25

When in a letter to the people of Antwerp, dated 13 November, 26 Alexander Farnese insisted on capitulation, the city council retorted ten days later that, had it been clear from the beginning that Farnese was able to assure what was necessary for peace, they would not have lost all that time hesitating to throw themselves into his arms. They would, instead, have been convinced that Farnese would recommend to the king of Spain what other great kings and princes had considered necessary for the tranquillity and the peace of their subjects, viz. freedom of religion. Yet, since a number of his declarations seemed to imply that he had no authority at all to make concessions with regard to freedom of religion, Farnese should understand that the same necessity which forced the Low Countries to start this war, also compelled them to proceed with it. 27 Inconstancy

or Constancy?

It cannot be denied that the course of Marnix’s life took a fundamental turn as a result of two historic events happening within a short interval: the murder of William of Orange (1584) and the siege and fall of Antwerp (1584–1585), the city of which Marnix was mayor. The impact of the former event on his political and intellectual development has been underestimated in the literature on the early modern Low Countries. It is clear though, that the disappearance of the Father of the Fatherland caused uncertainty for Marnix in politicis and radicalization in religiosis, as is proved beyond doubt by his publication of the Ondersoeckinge ende Grondelijcke wederlegginge . . . (1595). Nevertheless, a close investigation of the whole body of Marnix’s works, of his correspondence, and of his library, has also shown that great caution is to be observed concerning the nature of this radicalization. Indeed, one should specify much more accurately on what levels it revealed itself, to what extent it was politically determined, and towards which persons and groupings it was directed. Jumping 25 26 27

MEp 4, 84 03 14 MAG. MEp 4, 84 11 13. MEp 4, 84 11 23.

276

r ud olf de s met

to conclusions here can lead to severe distortions. For instance, the total rupture of the correspondence between Marnix and Lipsius after the latter’s departure from Leiden in 1591 could be interpreted at first sight as absolute irreconcilability on Marnix’s part because of Lipsius’s ‘desertion’, as his friend’s departure has often been labelled. What a sharp contrast, indeed, between the sincere and friendly letter from Lipsius to Marnix from 1586, and the total silence after 1591! But is this correct? Quite the contrary, it seems: in the aforementioned letter of March 1592 Gedeon van den Boetzelaar assured Lipsius of his uncle Marnix’s affection and esteem for him, whereas in the one from 1595 Lipsius expressed his delight upon hearing about the benevolence shown towards Marnix by the States General in The Hague.28 Undoubtedly the correspondence between both friends ceased after Lipsius’s departure from Leiden, but they nevertheless remained interested in each other’s life and ( scholary) activities,29 as is confirmed by the catalogue of Marnix’s library. This is only one of the numerous examples urging us to caution and affirming that the politico-religious conjunction forced intellectuals to adjust to the circumstances and adopt a certain profile, without really abandoning their humanistic ideas and ideals. It leads to the conclusion that Marnix never repudiated his friendships with learned colleagues because of their creed, however much he inveighed bitterly against the rigid, inflexible, uncompromising Roman Catholic theologians. That this attitude is apparently not directly related to the siege and the fall of Antwerp, is indicated by the paper war with the Leuven theologian Baius. Their correspondence about transubstantiation started in 1577, almost a decade before the siege of Antwerp. The fierce tone was set from the beginning and only increased with time. What a contrast again with the openness towards the king of France after the death of William of Orange, when Marnix did not hesitate to offer rule See p. 270. It should be noted that the correspondence with other scholars in the North was considerably reduced, or even entirely cut off once Lipsius had returned to the Spanish Netherlands. This was, for instance, the case with Janus Dousa and his sons, Jan van Hout, and Franciscus Raphelengius Sr in Leiden, or Theodorus Canterus in Utrecht. Especially during the first years after his return to Leuven, Lipsius had to be cautious about his contacts with Protestants who played an important part in the politics of the North or the organisation of Leiden University. See on this subject J. De Landtsheer, ‘From Ultima Thule to Finisterra: Surfing on the Wide Web of Justus Lipsius’ Correspondence’, in K. Enenkel and C. Heesakkers (eds), Lipsius in Leiden. Studies in the Life and Works of a Great Humanist (Voorthuizen 1997), 47–69 (esp. 59–62). 28 29

inconstancy

or constancy?

277

over the Low Countries to a sovereign who had approved the sudden and merciless killing of thousands of citizens, whose only offence was to have chosen the wrong fold! Hence my conclusion that in Marnix’s case the polarization in politicis and in religiosis needs always to be considered against the background of persons and the ‘domain’ they belong to, of particular circles and their social networks, of political and religious factions and events, but also, and perhaps most of all, against the background of his own humanistic education, the roots of which he never abandoned or betrayed. Appendix: Lipsiana in Marnix’s library

30

As is clear from the following list, Marnix only lacked the specifically philological publications, viz. the textcritical collections from Lipsius’s early years, the Satyra menippaea (1581) satirizing over-zealous emendators of texts and the German Emperors’ too lavishly granting of the title Poeta laureatus, De recta pronunciatione (1586), a small treatise about the correct pronunciation of Latin, written at Sir Philip Sidney’s request and dedicated to him, and the Epistolica institutio (1591), a short manual on letter-writing based on lecturing notes. Of Lipsius’s editions Marnix only had the Tacitus, both in its early (1581) and in its more elaborated version (1589), while Livy, Caesar (both mere text editions, without annotations) and Velleius Paterculus, as well as his annotations to the tragedies of Seneca do not figure on this list. 1. Corn[elius] Tacitus a I[usto] Lipsio recognitus Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum] 8931 C[aii] Cornelii Taciti opera quae exstant. I[ustus] Lipsius quintum recensuit. Additi commentarii meliores plenioresque cum curis secundis. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium. m.d.lxxxix. Fifth edition of Tacitus’ Opera omnia, in which besides some slight changes to the text, the additional annotations from the Curae secundae

G.J. Brouwer (ed.), Catalogue of the Library of Philips van Marnix van SintAldegonde (Nieuwkoop 1964), a fac-simile edition without a modern pagination of the catalogue itself. 31 Libri historici in folio , D2r. 30

278

r ud olf de s met (Leiden: F. Raphelengius, 1588) were added to the the Notae of the 1585 edition.

Commentarius and

2. I[usti] Lipsij Politica, Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum] 89 32 Politicorum sive civilis doctrinae libri sex. Qui ad principatum maxime spectant. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium. m.d.lxxxix.

3. I[usti] Lipsij Admiranda, Antver[piae] 98 33 Admiranda, sive de magnitudine Romana libri quattuor. Antverpiae: Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Ioannem Moretum. m.d.xcviii.

4. Idem De militia Romana, Antver[piae] 96 34 De militia Romana libri quinque, commentarius ad Polybium. E parte prima Historicae facis. Antverpiae: Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Viduam & Ioannem Moretum. m.d.xcv-vi. In fact De militia appeared in June 1595, but it was followed in 1596 by its sequel, Poliorceticωn sive de machinis, tormentis, telis libri quinque. Ad historiarum luce (ibid.). Marnix probably had a copy of the Poliorcetica as well and had them bound together.

5. I[usti] Lipsij in Tacitum commentarius inauratus, Antver[piae] 81

35

Ad Annales C[aii] Cornelii Taciti liber commentarius sive Notae. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxxi. First edition of the commentary to Tacitus’ Annales, which appeared a few months after the reprint of the text mentioned in no 6.

6. Opera Corn. Taciti ex recensione Lipsij, Antver[piae] 81

36

C[aii] Corn[elii] Taciti Opera omnia quae exstant. Quorum index pagina sequenti. I[ustus] Lipsius denuo castigavit, et recensuit. Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxxii. Second, revised edition of Tacitus’ Opera omnia.

7. I[usti] Lipsij Epistolarum centuriae, Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum] 90

32 33 34 35 36 37

Libri historici in quarto , D3v. Libri historici in quarto , D3v. Libri historici in quarto , D3v. Libri historici in octavo , E2v. Libri historici in octavo , E2v. Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in quarto , F3r.

37

inconstancy

or constancy?

279

Iusti Lipsii Epistolarum centuriae duae. Quarum prior innovata, altera nova. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium. m.d.xc.

8. Idem De amphitheatro cum figuris aeneis, ibidem38 De amphitheatro liber. In quo forma ipsa loci expressa, et ratio spectandi and De amphitheatris quae extra Romam libellus. In quo formae eorum aliquot et typi. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxxiv.

9. I[ustus] Lipsius De Constantia, Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum] 64 [= 84]39 De constantia libri duo, qui alloquium praecipue continent in publicis malis. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxxiv.

10. I[ustus] Lipsius adversus Dialogistam, Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum] 90 40 De una religione adversus dialogistam liber. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium. m.d.xc.

11. I[usti] Lipsij Saturnalia, Antver[piae] 85 41 Saturnalium sermonum libri duo, qui de gladiatoribus. Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxxii.

12. I[usti] Lipsij Epistolae, Antver[piae] 86 42 Epistolarum selectarum centuria prima. Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxxvi.

13. Eiusdemque Epistolicae quaestiones & Electa 43 Epistolicarum quaestionum Libri V. In quibus ad varios scriptores pleraeque ad T. Livium notae. Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxvii. A convolute, also containing the Electa (see no 15).

38 39 40 41 42 43

Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in quarto , F3r. Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in quarto , F3v. Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in quarto , F4r. Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in quarto , F4r. Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in octavo , G1v. Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in octavo , G1v.

280

r ud olf de s met

14. Eiusdem Epistolarum centuria, Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum] 86 44 Epistolarum selectarum centuria prima. Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxxvi. Published in Leiden, but part of the issue was provided with the Antwerp address on its title page.

15. I[usti] Lipsij Electa, Antver[piae] 80 45 Electorum Liber I. In quo praeter censuras, varii prisci ritus. Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. m.d.lxxx.

16. Lipsius De Cruce, Antver[piae] 9446 De cruce libri tres, ad sacram profanamque historiam utiles. Una cum notis. Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini, apud Viduam & Ioannem Moretum. m.d.xciv.

44 45 46

Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in octavo , G1v. Philosophi, Geometrae, Mathematici, Poëtae in octavo , G3v. Philosophi non compacti in quarto , G5v.

LIVING TO THE LETTER: THE CORRESPONDENCE OF DIRCK VOLCKERTSZ COORNHERT* Johan Koppenol (Amsterdam) Discussing Coornhert in a volume on ‘learned letter writers’ is not in all respects an obvious thing to do. Compared to the other persons to be discussed within this framework—famous humanists such as Erasmus, Vives, Lipsius, Grotius, Salmasius, and Junius, each of whom has been allotted a chapter in this book—Coornhert is a rather exceptional case. Was he a learned man? It is hard to say. No doubt he was clever, diligent, an intelligent autodidact. He taught himself Latin, but he was not a humanist like the others just mentioned, who edited classical texts or published their own literary works or treatises in Latin. Coornhert had no academic degree. He was almost sixty when he conceived the idea of enrolling at Leiden University, but he never actually did so because he felt threatened by the Reformed clergy. 1 He did not write in Latin and his position, if we can call it that, among the famous scholars and humanists in the Republic of Letters was rather marginal. On the other hand it would be strange to discuss ‘Learned Letter Writers Navigating the Reefs of Religious and Political Controversy in Early Modern Europe’ and ignore Coornhert. In one way or another he was involved in all the major religious conflicts in the Netherlands of his time. And although nowadays he is not very well known as a letter writer (his polemical correspondence with Justus Lipsius excepted), in this article I will show that his letters must have been rather influential in his time. It is true that Coornhert’s contributions to the debates of his time are mostly formulated not in letters, but in printed publications, in pamphlet form or even complete books. Letters were probably not the most appropriate vehicle for a controversialist like Coornhert, but during the decades after his death his contemporaries as well as his * I would like to thank Madeleine de Vetten, whose master’s thesis (2005) was on the correspondence of Coornhert, for her research and our discussions. For the correction of this article I express my gratitude to Jo Nesbitt. 1 B. Becker (ed.), Bronnen tot de kennis van het leven en de werken van D.V. Coornhert (The Hague 1928), 92; H. Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert (Amsterdam 1978), 124.

282

johan koppenol

living to the letter

283

admirers were nevertheless greatly interested in his correspondence. Coornhert was one of the first Dutch authors, writing in Dutch, whose letters were published. In this article, therefore, after introducing Coornhert very briefly, I will examine Coornhert’s correspondence, or what remains of it. The sources, both in print and in manuscript, will prove rather complicated. I will then describe the character of his letters, their content and their aim on the basis of those written to Dirck van Montfoort, one of Coornhert’s oldest and best friends. Their correspondence will enable us to formulate tentative answers to such questions as the role that Coornhert’s letters played in the lives of his addressees, what forms of religious intolerance he had to confront, and whether this resulted in any discrepancy between the ideas in his letters and his other works. Coornhert

and his letters

Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert was born in Amsterdam in 1522. 2 At the very early age of seventeen he married Neeltgen Symons. His widowed mother objected to this marriage: she accordingly changed her will and disinherited him. Coornhert moved to Haarlem, where he worked as an engraver, in particular for Maarten van Heemskerck. 3 Together with Jan van Zuren and two others he started a printing and publishing house in 1560. He became town clerk of the Haarlem City Council. At an early stage he became involved in the Dutch Revolt. He was arrested in 1567 and imprisoned at The Hague: when released on bail he fled the country and took refuge in Germany. He returned in 1572, became secretary to the free assembly of the States of Holland, but immediately fell foul of Guillaume de La Marck, Lord of Lumey, one of the leaders of the Revolt, and was again obliged to flee to Germany.

2 The most recent Dutch biography is Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert , translated into English by Gerrit Voogt as The Life and Work of Dirck Volkertszoon Coornhert (Amsterdam-New York 2004); see also: M.G.K. van Veen, ‘Verschooninghe van de roomsche afgoderye’. De polemiek van Calvijn met nicodemieten, in het bijzonder met Coornhert (s.l. 2001) (esp. 150–160); G. Voogt, Constraint on Trial. Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert and Religious Freedom, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, 52 (Kirksville, Missouri 2000). 3 I.M. Veldman, Maarten van Heemskerck and Dutch Humanism in the Sixteenth Century (Maarssen 1977), 53–93.

284

johan koppenol

In 1576 he returned to Holland and became involved in a series of theological debates and religious conflicts. He argued in favour of freedom of religion, and against all pretentious theology that was not related to what he saw as the core of Christianity. One of his central tenets is what is called his ‘perfectism’, an idea we also find in several spiritual leaders of his time: guided by true self-knowledge, man can reach a state of spiritual perfection during his life on earth. However, the process of becoming a true Christian is difficult and only very few succeed in reaching the highest level possible. Coornhert attacked all forms of compulsion in matters of faith. He contended with Hendrik Niclaes, the founder and spiritual leader of the Family of Love, he denounced the followers of David Joris, but most of all he opposed the Dutch Reformed clergy, especially on the doctrine of predestination. He was forced to move from city to city as a result of the disturbance he caused. His last, fierce controversy was against Justus Lipsius. Coornhert strongly rejected the ideas about the relation between State and Religion that Lipsius expressed in his Politica.4 Coornhert died in 1590 and was buried in Gouda. It is probable that Coornhert wrote hundreds, if not thousands, of letters during his lifetime. If we exclude the official letters he wrote as town secretary, only a small part of this correspondence has survived. As far as we know, hardly any authentic personal letters have survived, most of the originals have been lost. 5 The letters that have been transmitted are preserved in two collections, one printed and one in manuscript. Both collections date from after Coornhert’s death. During his lifetime, apart from letters of dedication and letters to the readers in his printed works, no personal letters of Coornhert were printed. A chance exception is his letter on the external aspects of church worship and the importance of rituals, probably written around 1570. This letter was published in 1581 without Coornhert’s knowledge, as appendix to an anonymous treatise entitled Vande wterlijcke kercke

4 It was published by Franciscus Raphelengius in Leiden (1589); see also Justus Lipsius, Politica: Six Books of Politics or Political Instruction , J. Waszink (ed.) (Assen 2004), esp. 70–79, 115–118. 5 Rare examples of original letters can be found at Amsterdam, University Library, Archives of ‘De Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente Amsterdam’, XXVII, 2311 (to his brother Frans Volckertsz Coornhert = WW 3, fol. 448) and Leiden, University Library, Papenbroek 1a (to the burgomasters of Haarlem = WW 3, fol. 260r-261r). WW = D.V. Coornhert, Wercken. Waer van eenige noyt voor desen gedruckt zyn , 3 vols (Amsterdam 1630 [=1633]).

living to the letter

285

Gods (On the visible church of God). 6 The Leiden professor Lambertus Danaeus, an orthodox Calvinist, assumed that both texts were written by Coornhert and wrote a vehement reaction. Coornhert replied by translating Danaeus’s text, denying he was the author of the treatise, and defending the position he had taken in his letter. Danaeus retaliated, with his fierce and caustic Calx viva, an attack Coornhert could not leave unanswered. 7 The incident concerning this single letter and the problems it caused, clarifies several things. Letters by Coornhert must have had a long afterlife as they appear to have been read, reread, kept and passed on. The reason for this was the content: the letters must have played a role in the religious debates of the time. This function did not stop at the moment Coornhert died. After his death, his letters were collected and printed. Proof of the ongoing interest in Coornhert’s letters, as part of the broader interest in his ideas, can be found in a voluminous compilation of his work, printed in Gouda by Jasper Tournay in 1610–1612.8 In this Eerste deel der wercken (First Part of the Works, not to be confused with the first part of the well-known edition of Coornhert’s Wercken, the collected works in three parts, printed in 1630 [vere 1633] by Jacob Aertsz Colom) one finds Coornhert’s Vereeniginghe van sommige strijdige sproken der H. Schrifture (Reconciliation of some Contradictory Sayings of Holy Scripture). At the end of this particular work, we find an announcement of a forthcoming publication, containing the letters of Coornhert with further examples of conflicting scriptural sayings: ‘The reader may find more [examples] at the end of the Letter-book.’ 9 What follows is a list of cross-references to, respectively, letters 51, 52, 56, 57, 59, 60, 97, 58, and 147, as well as the scriptural passages they discuss. The concrete character of the references suggests that Tournay was well advanced with his plans for the edition. The letter book, however, remained unpublished. 6 The treatise has been attributed to Hubert Duifhuis: O. Fatio, Nihil pulchrius ordine. Contribution à l’étude de l’établissement de la discipline ecclésiastique aux PaysBas ou Lambert Daneau aux Pays-Bas (1581–1583) (Leiden 1971), 71. 7 Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 102–104; Fatio, Nihil pulchrius ordine, 71–82. 8 For Tournay, who printed many works of Coornhert, see: P. Abels, ‘Spreekbuis voor dissenters. De drukkerij van Jasper Tournay’, in N.D.B. Habermehl et al. (eds), In de stad van die Goude [= Oudheidkundige kring ‘Die Goude’, Verzamelde bijdragen 22 (1992)] (Delft 1992), 221–262. 9 Dirck Volckaerts Coornhert, Eerste deel der wercken, handelende van schriftuerlijcke ende veel leerlijcke saken, seer stichtelijck ende dienstigh voor alle liefhebbers der waerheyt (Gouda 1612), fol. 44v.

286

johan koppenol

Fifteen years were to pass before a collection of Coornhert’s letters was published, viz. in Amsterdam in 1626. It was therefore more than 35 years after Coornhert had died that the aforementioned Colom presented a volume entitled Brieven-boeck. Inhoudende hondert brieven van D.V. Coornhart. Eerste deel (Letter-book, Containing One Hundred Letters by D.V. Coornhert. First Part).10 The book contains, despite the title, one hundred and one letters; and again despite the title, no second part was forthcoming. 11 The Brieven-boeck was reprinted by Colom in the third volume of the Wercken (1630).12 The discovery of a manuscript in 1923 brought about a spectacular expansion of our knowledge of Coornhert’s correspondence. The attention of the famous Coornhert scholar Bruno Becker was drawn to a manuscript gathering one hundred and sixty-four letters by Coornhert. This manuscript, now in Leiden University Library, is divided into three separate bibliographical units, written by the same hand, containing respectively fifty, fifty and sixty-four letters.13 As in the printed collection, only letters by Coornhert himself have been preserved. Those of his correspondents have been lost. The manuscript contains almost all of the letters from the Brieven-boeck (only three are missing),14 albeit in a different order, and some of them have been presented in an altered form. Sometimes two letters have been combined into one letter, while others have been divided into two. 15 A few letters were already known because they were published in Coornhert’s Wercken of 1630. But more importantly: the manuscript also includes no less than fifty-seven letters that were hitherto completely unknown.

10 Some copies of the book contain an additional, illustrated title page. This additional title runs: D.V. Coornharts Hondert brieven van verscheyden ghewightighe en stichtelijcke materien (One hundred letters by D.V. Coornhert on important and edifying matters). The fact that this first title is sometimes missing, caused some confusion in the past; the editors of the Bibliotheca Belgica falsely presumed that there were two editions. See: F. van der Haeghen and M.-Th. Lenger (eds), Bibliotheca Belgica. Bibliographie générale des Pays-Bas (Brussels 1964–1975), vol. 1, 702–703, 763. 11 There are two letters numbered 44. 12 WW 3, fol. [89]r–155r. This reprint is not complete: letters 70 and 71 are lacking; letter 72 has no inscription and is therefore not recognizable as such; the text is included, however, after letter 69. 13 Leiden University Library, ms. BPL 2249. The first section covers pages 1–118, the second pages 119–204, the third (consisting in two sections bound together) pages 205–328 and 329–[408]. 14 Namely letters 84, 99, and 100; see Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 327. 15 Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 325–328.

living to the letter

287

Becker published all the newly found letters in 1928, rearranging them according to the (presumed) addressees. 16 Complex sources The Leiden manuscript is indisputably a very valuable source for our knowledge of Coornhert’s life and ideas. Acknowledging this, Becker was nevertheless rather critical about his find. He stated that the quality of the manuscript, supposedly written in the early decades of the seventeenth century, was poor. The copyist, whoever he or she was, was rather slovenly and seldom used punctuation. Dates are lacking, as well as the names of many addressees. According to Becker, the manuscript ‘is not the original “Brieven-boeck” [i.e. the intended Tournay edition, JK], but a sometimes very defective copy of it.’ 17 It is worthwhile to reconsider this opinion and to pay some attention to the manuscript in relation to the printed sources. As stated, in his 1612 edition of the Wercken, Jasper Tournay referred to numbered letters in the edition he planned to publish. These numbers do not match the numbers in the printed Brieven-boeck, but they do correspond with the numbered letters in the manuscript—as was also noticed by Becker. 18 Since Becker also stated that the manuscript was not the original Brieven-boeck, we must conclude that he considered it to be a bad transcription of the copy Tournay possessed. There are good reasons to doubt this. First of all, we know nothing about the quality of Tournay’s copy, so this is not a convincing argument that the manuscript was not his. On the other hand, there is a strong indication that precisely this manuscript, and no other copy, was available in Tournay’s printing office. All we know for sure about Tournay’s edition of Coornhert’s letters is the cited quotation in the Eerste deel der wercken: the reference to the letters about seemingly contradictory scriptural passages. When one takes a closer look at these letters in the manuscript, it is clear that somebody marked them and made them recognizable as such. When the original inscription did not indicate the biblical texts to be discussed, this information has been added, notably

Becker (ed.), Bronnen, xxix–xxxii; 197–347. ‘Het is niet het oorspronkelijke “Brieven-boeck”, slechts een soms zeer gebrekkig afschrift hiervan’. Becker (ed.), Bronnen, xxx. 18 Becker (ed.), Bronnen, xxx. 16 17

288

johan koppenol

by the same hand, but with a different, darker ink. This is the case with letters 51, 56, 57, 58 and 59. 19 The letters numbered 52, 60 and 97 were already provided with adequate citation, so nothing had been added here. Only letter number 147 lacks a similar notation. 20 On this account, therefore, I would like to argue that the Leiden manuscript is no inferior transcript, but the actual copy Tournay possessed and planned to bring to light. This enables us to date the manuscript more precisely: we do not know when the compiler started to write, but his work must have been completed in 1612. A few points should be made about the quality of the copy. Becker was very negative on this point. He wrote: On too many occasions, the manuscript gives the impression that it is the work of a clerk who copies thoughtlessly. One or more lines are often left out; the copyist does not seem to know the Latin language; he pays so little attention to good punctuation that the meaning of his writing is sometimes hard to understand. I have tried to rectify the slips of his pen and to reconstruct the correct text, but too often this proved impossible. In such cases I had to make do with the note: corrupt text. 21

It looks as if Becker is demanding flawless copy, but such a thing did not exist in the early modern printing office, any more than it does today. The quality of the manuscript is not a convincing argument that this is a transcript rather than Tournay’s original copy. For a publisher and printer such as Tournay, the crucial point was to lay hands on a text, but printers in those days took liberties which would be incompatible with modern philological principles. When Tournay set about preparing his edition of the letters, there is no doubt that he would have simply corrected the text where it seemed to be corrupt, or have adapted it for other reasons. Colom, the printer of the Brieven-boeck of 1626, presumably did exactly the same. 22 We do not know for certain which source Colom Leiden University Library, ms. BPL 2249, 119, 133–134. Leiden University Library, ms. BPL 2249, 119, 134, 196, 360. 21 ‘Al te dikwijls immers geeft het handschrift den indruk, het werk te zijn van een klerk, die gedachteloos naschrijft. Eén of verscheidene regels worden dikwijls overgeslagen; de Latijnsche taal schijnt de copiïst niet te kennen; aan een behoorlijke interpunctie heeft hij zich zóó weinig gestoord, dat de zin van het medegedeelde soms moeilijk te vatten is. Ik heb getracht de schrijffouten te verbeteren en den juisten tekst te recontrueeren; maar al te vaak was dit onmogelijk en moest ik volstaan met de noot: bedorven tekst.’ Becker (ed.), Bronnen, xxxi. 22 On Colom see: D. Visser, ‘De Geest buiten spel. Jacob Aertsz Colom, een onorthodox drukker en uitgever te Amsterdam’, in I.B. Horst, A.F. de Jong, and D. Visser (eds), De Geest in het geding (Alphen aan den Rijn 1978), 268–282. 19 20

living to the letter

289

used for his edition. It is likely, however, that his source was at least closely allied to the manuscript, if not the actual manuscript itself. How else can we explain that the two sources open with exactly the same letters? But whether Colom used the actual manuscript or a copy of it, he definitely made some major interventions, especially in the letters addressed to Coornhert’s friend Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel. To mention only one: several of the manuscript letters addressed to Spiegel are amalgamated into one ‘new’ letter in the printed Brievenboeck.23 If Colom was not personally responsible, someone else in his printing office must have decided that the original form of the letters was not sacrosanct, for reasons we cannot conjecture. It was probably something as practical as the decision to publish exactly one hundred letters, a centuria, which was quite popular with the humanist authors of that time. Combining several letters into a single one made it possible to extend the contents of the book within the fixed limits. A logical question is whether the compilers of both the manuscript and the Brieven-boeck applied some kind of organising principle. At first glance, both sources give the impression of being unplanned and more or less haphazard collections. At second glance, however, there appears to be some structure at a micro-level. In a few cases at least, letters directed to the same addressee and letters dealing with the same subject are put together. In the Brieven-boeck, for example, letters to Aggaeus van Albada and Cornelius Fabius are connected, while letters 44 to 49, addressed to various people, all discuss human sin. The dating of the letters also seems to have been of influence, for the Brieven-boeck concludes with letters from 1589 and 1590 dealing with Lipsius’s Politica. The very last letter, written just before Coornhert died, is addressed to Lipsius himself. 24

(Fragments of ) letters 113–115, 117, and 119 in the manuscript can be found— though not in the same order—in letter 72 in the Brieven-boeck; letters 115 and 120 of the manuscript become letter 71 in the Brieven-boeck. See: Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 341–342. 24 Coornhert corresponded with several people about the Politica, among others Hendrik Laurensz. Spiegel (Brieven-boeck, letters 97–99). For the complete correspondence between Coornhert and Lipsius concerning the Politica, see ILE [= Justus Lipsius, Epistolae, A. Gerlo, M.A. Nauwelaerts, and H.D.L. Vervliet et al. (eds) (Brussels 1978–)] 3, 90 03 19; 90 03 23; 90 03 29; 90 03 31; 90 04 01 C 1; 90 04 01 C 2, and 90 04 07 C. Apart from the last letter to Lipsius, the Brieven-boeck also contains three letters to Lipsius about human sin and free will ( Brieven-boeck, letters 86–88); these letters were presumably written in 1584: ILE 2, 84 04 12; 84 04 18; 84 04 24 C; for the letters of Lipsius, see ILE 2, 84 03 18; 84 04 09; 84 04 15, and 84 04 21. 23

290

johan koppenol

Harder to detect is the organisation at a higher level of the letter collections per se. Nevertheless, I would like to argue that such an organisation is present in both sources, in the printed Brieven-boeck a little more emphatically than in the manuscript. This organisation leads from general to more specific topics. Roughly speaking, the letters in the first third of the Brieven-boeck deal with the fundamentals of Christian religion and the Christian way of life in general; quite a few letters contain advice on how to follow Christ. The second third is devoted to more specific doctrinal and ethical questions, such as the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of Christ, questions on the nature of sin, and reflections on curiosity, wisdom and lust. Religious controversy and disputes form the lion’s share of the third part, in letters about the benefits of debate, warnings against false prophets, questions about predestination and free will, about freedom of conscience, moral constraint and religious freedom. This is, it must be said, a very rough division and quite a few letters do not fit into it, but as a whole I do believe one can recognise this pattern. It is clear that the compilers of both the manuscript and the printed Brieven-boeck were interested primarily in the content of Coornhert’s letters, not in their original appearance. As a result, neither source reveals as much information about when or where the letters were written as one would wish. Names and dates, crucial information for anyone interested in the letters as such, are often left out. It is hard to tell whether these omissions in the written manuscript are due to indifference or to the fact that information on date and place was then no longer available. In the case of the Brieven-boeck, it is likely that the compiler deliberately left out some personal remarks and passages that characterize the letters as such. Comparing those letters preserved in both the manuscript and the Brieven-boeck, for example, we see that salutations, acknowledgements and details about Coornhert’s place of abode appear to have been struck out. 25 These facts of course complicate research into the letters as instances of correspondence. Coornhert’s addressees are not always easy to identify. In some cases their names are mentioned in the inscription of the letters. There are reasons to think that the compilers of both the manuscript and the Brieven-boeck at least tried to put letters addressed

25 The passages missing are reproduced in Becker (ed.), 329–330).

Bronnen, 329–341 (esp.

living to the letter

291

to one and the same person together. This means that letters lacking an addressee were probably written to the last person mentioned. This is, though, far from a cast-iron theory. In some cases the contents of the letters refer to previous letters: in such cases we can be sure that the addressee of the subsequent letter really is the same person. In other cases however, the contents show on the contrary that the recipient must be a completely different person, although no new name has been mentioned. Letter 37 in the Brieven-boeck, for example, is explicitly addressed to Dirck van Montfoort—not only an old friend, but also an old man. This letter is followed by three other letters without an addressee. The first is likely to be addressed to Van Montfoort as well, but the two following anonymous letters were clearly written to another, much younger person. Coornhert addresses him as ‘my beloved N.’ and ‘young man’; unfortunately we do not know who this person was.26 The compilers certainly also made mistakes. One letter is, according to the Brieven-boeck, addressed to Coornhert’s brother Frans. But the compiler was misled by the form of address Coornhert used: ‘beloved brother’. This, of course, can also be said to a congenial religious spirit, a ‘brother in Christ’. The letter in question actually seems to have been written to Van Montfoort, and not to Frans Coornhert. This particular mistake was detected by Becker. 27 Comparing all the information from both sources, Becker identified as many of Coornhert’s addressees as possible; his phenomenal knowledge of Coornhert’s life and works also enabled him to make a suggestion about when many of the letters were written. There is little doubt that Becker in his turn may have made the occasional mistake, but within the scope of this article I will nevertheless use and build on his work. The letters from both sources make clear that Coornhert had contact with a comprehensive network of persons—mostly friends, but in some cases former friends who had become enemies. There are about twenty different correspondents, among them well-known names such as Christopher Plantin, Cornelis Grotius (professor at LeidenUniversity and uncle of Hugo Grotius), Abraham Ortelius, the Mennonite spiritual leader Hans de Ries and the aforementioned Justus Lipsius, as well as lesser gods, such as Cornelis Boomgaert, Cornelis Fabius, the

26 27

Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letters 37–40. Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 207, n. 3.

292

johan koppenol

chronicler Pieter Christiaensz Bor, Haarlem patricians such as Nicolaes van der Laen and Gerrit Stuyver, and relatives such as his niece Catheline van Brederode and his nephew Artus van Brederode. His most important correspondents, however, taking into consideration the number of surviving letters, were his friends Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel and Dirck Jacobsz van Montfoort. The letters to Dirck van Montfoort In order to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of Coornhert’s letters, I would like to focus on one epistolary contact. Although almost every letter by Coornhert reveals interesting points of view concerning topics such as religion and the freedom of the individual, they do not all reveal what their author was like as a correspondent. Though the list of addressees is rather long, in most cases no more than one or two letters have survived. I have chosen not to discuss these rather isolated texts. On looking through Coornhert’s letters in search of a correspondence as personal, continual and extended as possible, we find almost all of his addressees to be ineligible. As a matter of fact only the letters to Spiegel and Van Monfoort come under consideration. No less than twenty-one of Coornhert’s letters are addressed to Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel, a learned Amsterdam merchant and poet in the Dutch language.28 In his letters to Spiegel, Coornhert deals with sophisticated ethical and religious questions: the nature of man, the faculties of the human mind, joy and grief, etc. 29 These letters therefore belong to— and are indeed for the most part incorporated into—what I refer to as the second section of the letter collections. The letters to Spiegel are an important source for the intellectual debate of the time, but the very complex contents and their exceptional character make them both less representative and less suited to the purpose. That brings us to Coornhert’s most important contact, measured by the number of letters, Dirck Jacobsz van Montfoort. Probably no less than thirty-two of Coornhert’s letters to him have survived: twenty-

Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letters 13, 17, 18?, 46, 62, 63, 71, 72, 97, 98, 99; Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 243–272 (letters 25–34). 29 S. Melissen, ‘De Goddelijke Mens. Een humanistendiscussie over de natuur van de mens’, in Spektator 16 (1986–1987), 194–218. 28

living to the letter

293

one in the Brieven-Boeck and eleven more in the manuscript. 30 The letters cover a long period, the first being written in 1574, the last in 1589 or 1590. In addition, the letters are relatively personal in tone. Van Montfoort was one of Coornhert’s oldest friends, the letters contain information about their relationship and give what may be regarded as a good general impression of Coornhert’s correspondence. Who was Dirck Jacobsz van Montfoort? He was a citizen of Leiden, but beyond that biographical details are scarce. 31 He was born around 1510 as the son of relatively prosperous parents. The family lived outside the city, where his father owned a brick-yard. Dirck probably followed in his father’s footsteps. Later, the son settled in Leiden, where he performed several public functions. He was married three times and presumably made his living as a merchant. In 1580 Coornhert dedicated his treatise De koopman (The Merchant) to Van Montfoort, a dialogue between Coornhert and a man named ‘Geerhart Mercator’, who can probably be identified with Van Montfoort himself.32 During the first years of the Revolt Van Montfoort was in close contact with William of Orange. After the siege and relief of Leiden, the prince made him burgomaster of Leiden. He fulfilled this office for only one year; he remained in the ‘vroedschap’, the city council, until 1580, then he voluntarily stepped down. It is not known with certainty when he died. The most probable year of his death is 1590, but 1602 has also been proposed. At any event, he lived to a great age: 80, perhaps even 90 years. The friendship between Coornhert and Van Montfoort dated back at least to the 1560s. Coornhert’s letters reveal that Van Montfoort acted as Coornhert’s patron. His strong social position enabled him to

30 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letters 1, 2?, 3?, 6, 15, 16?, 19?, 20?, 21?, 22?, 26?, 27?, 28? , 29? , 30, 31, 37, 38? , 64, 82, (83 was sent along with 82 as an appendix), 84 (to Coornhert’s friends); for the ascription of letters 6, 16, 19, 21, 26 and 64, see Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 207, 330–332; Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 200–217 (letters 2–12). One letter (Brieven-boeck, 26) is available in a modern translation: H. Bonger and A.-J. Gelderblom (eds), Weet of rust. Proza van Coornhert (Amsterdam 1985), 105–106. 31 A thorough investigation of the life of Van Montfoort was beyond the limits of this article; more research on his person is desirable. The biographical information presented here is drawn from I.W.L. Moerman, ‘Een tinnen servies uit het midden van de 16 e eeuw’, in Leids jaarboekje 70 (1978), 69–80; B. Becker, ‘Dirck Jacobsz. van Montfoort, de gastheer van den prins na het ontzet’, in Leidsch Dagblad, 4–10–1924; Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert; S.A. Lamet, Men in Government: the Patriciate of Leiden, 1550–1600 ([s.l.] 1979), esp. 259. 32 Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert , 307–309.

294

johan koppenol

help when his friend was in difficulties. When Coornhert was arrested and put behind bars, one of the letters relates, Van Montfoort sent him money.33 He offered him shelter when he needed it, took care of his wife Neeltje and her sister, and of his writings, when Coornhert himself had to flee to Germany in 1572.34 And even in better times he still looked after him. Quite a few letters begin with Coornhert thanking Van Montfoort for sending apples, pears, medlars, parcels or money. 35 Coornhert in return repaid him with what he called ‘the fruits of his mind’: his writings, his views and moral lessons. Van Montfoort might be Coornhert’s patron, but Coornhert—although he was about ten years younger—was Van Montfoort’s spiritual leader. There were various reasons for Coornhert and Van Montfoort to write each other: besides the interchange of gifts this could be a request for help or a favour, mere interest in each other’s circumstances or the wish to console and to teach. A special phenomenon is the New Year letter. There are two of these among the letters addressed to Van Montfoort, in which Coornhert formulates his hopeful expectations for the year to come for Van Montfoort and the world in general. Compared to others, these letters are rather general in tone and contents. In the fifteenth letter of the Brieven-boeck, for example, Coornhert starts to express the hope that Van Montfoort, he himself and ‘all people’ will obey God in the future. What follows can be seen as a summary of the Christian faith: God wants us to abandon all evil and He will forgive the sins of whoever does so wholeheartedly. There will be no mercy, however, for those who persist in their sins. The letter continues almost like a prayer, warning and comforting at the same time. Coornhert probably wrote one letter at the end of the year, containing a short moral lesson appropriate to all readers, and sent it to different correspondents, only slightly adjusting the opening lines.36 This is by no means to suggest that the letters do not reflect Coornhert’s personal theological preoccupations. In the letter in question, for example, Coornhert states explicitly that there is mercy for everyBecker (ed.), Bronnen, 209 (letter 6); Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert , 53. Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert , 60, 68; Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 207– 210 (letters 5, 6). 35 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letters 28, 30; Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 209, 212–217 (letters 6, 8–12). 36 This is speculation, we have no proof that copies of the same letter are addressed to different recipients. Nevertheless, the impersonal tone and general subjects are notable—and this could be an explanation. 33

34

living to the letter

295

one who is ready to accept Christ. Our souls belong to God, and He therefore will not allow the devil to claim the soul of a single man who repents his sins. This letter dates from the years of Coornhert’s conflict with Calvinist divines on the topic of predestination. What were the more personal letters between the two men about? As stated earlier, Van Montfoort’s letters have not survived, but as far as we can reconstruct them, the Leiden burgomaster did not bother his friend much with his daily problems. Politics and governance are almost completely absent—quite remarkable when we realize what was going on in the Netherlands while Coornhert and Van Montfoort were corresponding with one another. Van Monfoort was burgomaster of Leiden during one of the most tumultuous episodes in the city’s history, the period immediately after the famous siege. We find very little of all this in the letters however. Coornhert complains about the inconveniences of the war, unsettling the correspondence with his friend, but the name of William, Prince of Orange is not mentioned once. 37 During the siege of Leiden, Coornhert stayed in Xanten in Germany, where he lived in exile for several years, from 1572 until 1576. On 10 September 1574 he wrote a poem, ‘Ghespreck tusschen Oceanus en Mase’ (Dialogue between the Sea and the River Maas) about the efforts to relieve Leiden by breaching the dikes, which he enclosed with a letter to Van Montfoort. 38 Coornhert was apparently very well informed about what was going on in the Netherlands, but these topical matters were definitely not his first concern. His interests lay elsewhere. He even advised his friend to join him in Xanten to live a peaceful life, in the eventuality of Leiden not being liberated. 39 After the relief, Van Montfoort was installed in the city council by William of Orange. Van Montfoort dealt with political matters on a daily basis, but it seems he did not discuss that part of his life in great detail when writing to Coornhert. Although both men shared comparable ideas concerning a tolerant Christian society, and Van Montfoort was probably even responsible for asking Coornhert to defend the policies of Leiden’s local government in his famous Justificatie (1579), these matters are almost absent in their correspondence. 40 Only once, Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 64. Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 200–201 (esp. 201, n. 2); Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert, 74. 39 Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 200–201. 40 Bonger, Leven en werk van D.V. Coornhert , 99, 102, 197. 37 38

296

johan koppenol

in 1583, Van Montfoort seems to have asked for political advice about the position of the moderate-minded minister Caspar Coolhaes. In his answer, Coornhert stands up for general religious tolerance for all. 41 One could, then, assume that most of the more political letters have not been preserved, for example because they were of little interest to later readers. On the other hand, Coornhert explicitly states that he does not want to be involved in political matters; he prefers to concentrate on ‘the affairs of the soul’ instead. In one letter, though, Van Montfoort complains about ‘quade regeringhe’ (bad government). 42 Coornhert immediately reacts, addressing him like a Dutch uncle: Van Montfoort should not be concerned about bad government, he should be worried about the cause of it: his own sins and the sins of his fellow countrymen. The problems the country is facing are caused by their pride and lack of Christian, neighbourly love. The main topic in the correspondence is religion, and this is true for both Coornhert and Van Montfoort. In their correspondence on religious matters, Van Montfoort is obviously the inquiring party. In many of his letters he must have raised problems and questions on religion and ethics, expecting Coornhert to discuss or answer them. Some of Van Montfoort’s questions obviously concerned difficult or ambiguous passages in the Bible, 43 while others related to Coornhert’s own writings.44 Sometimes Van Montfoort’s personal circumstances are discussed, for example when his niece died unexpectedly,45 or when he himself was sick and had to dictate his letter to his son Johannes. 46 Sometimes Van Montfoort must have reflected on old age, for in his answer Coornhert admonished him to be prepared for death. 47 In one letter Van Montfoort expressed his doubts on whether he was strong enough to fight and overcome evil. Coornhert’s reaction was characteristic: we may doubt our own capacities, but we may never doubt the power of God. If we fight evil in the name of God and truly wish to serve God, He will certainly help us and we will conquer. 48

Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 210–212 (letter 7). Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 3. 43 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letters 12, 29, 38. 44 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letters 16, 21, 28, 82. 45 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 19. 46 Becker, Bronnen, 216–217 (letter 11). 47 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 31. See also letters 19, 28, 31; Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 216–217 (letter 11). 48 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 20. 41 42

living to the letter

297

Van Montfoort clearly wished to be taught by his friend and Coornhert played the role of spiritual leader in a most convincing way. He explained the Bible as if he was a professional expounder of Scripture. The opening letter of both the manuscript and the Brieven-boeck is an interpretation of Deuteronomy 11:18, in Coornhert’s opinion an appeal to incorporate God’s laws in our daily thoughts and acts, hence a programmatic appeal to all readers. In the letters to Van Montfoort we also find examples of deliberations on contradictory or seemingly contradictory Bible texts—apparently a rather popular genre, as witnessed by Jasper Tournay’s edition of Coornhert’s Vereeniginghe van sommige strijdige sproken der H. Schrifture (Reconciliation of some Contradictory Sayings of Holy Scripture). How to explain, for example, the coexistence of the following biblical sayings, taken from the first Letter of John, 49 namely Chapter 1:8: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves’, and Chapter 5:18: ‘We know that no child of God keeps on sinning’? According to Coornhert, this is a false contradiction: one should distinguish between ‘having sinned’ and ‘to sin’. All of us commit sin: that is what the first quotation is about. But when we acknowledge our sins and repent them and start a new life, we can give up sinning: and that is what the second quotation says. It is like a woman of seventy years old: she might have had children, but now she cannot give birth any longer. Apparently this was what readers appreciated. When Jasper Tournay announced his forthcoming edition of the letters, the edition that was never published, he accordingly drew special attention to content of this type. We can safely assume that a great number of Van Montfoort’s questions on religious matters, as well as all the personal problems he brought up in his correspondence with Coornhert were his own private affairs, and that Coornhert’s answers were meant for his eyes only. However, there is reason to believe that at least some of the letters were not meant for Van Montfoort alone, but intended to be read by others as well. It is likely, therefore, that Van Montfoort also acted as a mediator for others. There are two letters to prove this. The first letter, written from Xanten in 1576, makes clear that a small group of people in Leiden was meeting

49 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 38. Another example in the letters to Van Monfoort: Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 29.

298

johan koppenol

to discuss religious matters. 50 Van Montfoort was a member of this group, which probably included Cornelis Grotius too. Van Montfoort must have told Coornhert which questions and scriptural points were being discussed. In his very interesting reaction Coornhert writes that he would like to give his opinion on the issue under discussion ‘among you’. In his letter he pretends to be present at their gathering, listening to all their deliberations, and finally expresses his own opinions. This same letter is also interesting for another reason. There is an important difference between the text in the Brieven-boeck, and the written version in the Leiden manuscript. 51 It appears that in the printed version quite a long passage has been left out. In this particular fragment Coornhert is discussing another Biblical verse, namely John 6:44: ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me’. This text was used, or, in Coornhert’s view abused, by the Calvinists to defend their ‘stoic predestination’. With references to other biblical texts, Coornhert argues that the Divine ‘drawing’ should not be interpreted as an act of violence or an inevitable destiny, but as a gentle invitation that people could either accept or refuse. This means that God’s ‘drawing’ does not affect man’s free will. And since this specific text is the only scriptural justification for the predestination, the doctrine of the Calvinists is like a Philistine building, held up by one pillar only. One hairless Samson, who prays to God, is enough to destroy the entire building. Coornhert writes that he had discussed this text with a Calvinist minister who had no answer to that. He asked Coornhert to commit his explanation to paper, then he would translate it and pass it on to Theodore Beza. Coornhert had complied with the request, but had not heard anything about it since. Was this fragment left out of the printed edition of 1626 to avoid problems with the Reformed Church? On the other hand: comparable critical texts were printed happily enough. A second letter informs us about a group of adherents of David Joris that approached Van Montfoort and asked him to forward a letter which they had written to his friend. 52 They wanted to know why Coornhert planned to publish his denunciation of David Joris’s ideas. Van Montfoort did so, and in his answer to him, Coornhert declared that he would not react in writing. He asserted that he treated the

Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 21. Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 21; Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 331; see also Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letter 64. 52 Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 214–216 (letter 10). 50 51

living to the letter

299

followers of David Joris very civilly and had lent them his diatribe against Joris. It was illegally copied twice by them. They also sent him unfriendly and unpleasant letters. Nevertheless they were welcome to visit Coornhert, he was willing to discuss the manuscript. The only thing he wanted to say at this stage was that in his opinion, Christ and the Bible were more important than Joris and his Wonder-boeck.53 As stated before, most of the time it was Van Montfoort who asked the questions and Coornhert who answered them. But in one letter the roles were reversed and Coornhert was the one asking for advice, or at least for approval or support. After finishing his Proeve van de Nederlandse Catechismo (Trial of the Dutch Catechism), a fundamental rejection of the Calvinist doctrine, he sent the manuscript to Nicolaes van der Laen in Haarlem. If Van der Laen could prove that he was wrong or that publication of this work would harm the national interest, Coornhert would withdraw his book. Otherwise it would be printed. Van der Laen thereupon made all kinds of distracting manoeuvres, but refused to react to the contents of the Proeve. He instead suggested organizing a debate between Coornhert and the Calvinist ministers about matters proposed by them, and not about the propositions Coornhert had raised. Coornhert refused and sent a copy of this refusal to Van Montfoort, explaining what had happened. It is clear that Coornhert was looking for political support. The States of Holland, so he wrote, ought to do what was expected of them: to foster the Christian faith in an open and free debate, without resorting to violence. 54 Conclusion If we take the correspondence between Coornhert and Van Montfoort as representative of Coornhert’s letters, some impressions and tentative conclusions about the nature of Coornhert’s letters can be formulated. Coornhert’s correspondence, that is to say the part that has survived, is not very comprehensive. Furthermore, the sources are quite complicated and not always reliable. However, there is enough material to conclude that Coornhert maintained contact with quite a number of people through his letters. The majority of these correspondents, like himself, did not belong to the academic world. But it is not only this 53 Becker (ed.), Bronnen, 214–216 (letter 10); Bonger, Coornhert, 274–285 (esp. 279). 54 Coornhert, Brieven-boeck, letters 82–83.

Leven en werk van D.V.

300

johan koppenol

non-academic character that makes his correspondence different from the letters of most humanists. In his letters Coornhert proves himself first and foremost a spiritual leader. He taught and advised his friends in religious matters, and he attacked his enemies. It was precisely this didactic element of his letters that was appreciated by his contemporaries and by the generations to follow. This was also decisive for the preservation of the letters: they were regarded as instructive for all readers and were therefore published. In the table of contents in the Wercken (Works) of 1630, the reprint of the Brieven-boeck is announced as ‘100 letters to many learned men. To disentangle serious religious conflicts’.55 The more personal element and the nature of the letters as such was less important for later generations, as were the letters of his correspondents, which sometimes makes it difficult to gain a clear impression of the actual correspondence. The fact that Coornhert’s letters were printed is nevertheless very remarkable. As was noted in the introduction to this article, Coornhert was one of the very first Dutch authors whose letters appeared in print. Now that we know more about the nature of his correspondence, we can find an explanation for this. Letters played an important role in religious history. Time out of mind, prophets and religious leaders have instructed their followers through letters, most famously the biblical St Paul. Their letters were cherished and passed on to successive generations with great care, and served as spiritual guidebooks. When we look at the rare letters in Dutch that were published during the sixteenth century, it is evident that almost all of them functioned exactly in this way. Hendrik Niclaes, the spiritual leader of the Family of Love and opponent of Coornhert, maintained contact with his followers by means of his printed letters. 56 The same can be said about David Joris and his Christelijcke sendtbrieven (Christian Epistles) and Hendrik Jansz Barrefelt’s Sendt-brieven wt yverighe herten (Epistles from Zealous Hearts). 57 The printed letters of a great reformer as Cal55 ‘100 Brieven aen veel geleerde luyden. Tot onwar van sware geloofs verschillen’; WW 3, fol. (***)6v. 56 Epistolae H.N. De vornömpste epistelen [. . .] uppet nye överseen (Cologne 1577). See for an inventory of Niclaes’s separately printed letters: H. de la Fontaine Verwey, ‘De geschriften van Hendrik Niclaes. Prolegomena eener bibliographie’, in Het Boek 26 (1940–1942), 161–221 (esp. 197–203). 57 [David Joris,] Christelijcke sendtbrieven, inholdende seer veele vnde verscheydene schoone godtlijcke vermaninghen vnde onderrichtinghen (Delft ca 1600); [Hendrik

living to the letter

301

vin functioned in a similar way. 58 We may conclude that, although Coornhert’s letters were originally only intended to teach and encourage individuals or small groups of friends, his correspondence in the end acquired the same general didactic function. It is therefore easily explicable that most of the letters deal with religious matters. Coornhert used almost every subject and event to expound his own religious ideas. In doing so, he displays a self-confidence that is, to put it mildly, beyond the ordinary: he sounds exactly like the ministers he detested. His incorrigible tendency to instruct people in religious and ethical matters does not seem to bother his correspondents, at least not his friends and followers. Even when writing to what must have been one of his best friends, Dirck van Montfoort, he strikes the same note. The personal element in their correspondence is never uncoupled from the didactic goal. At the same time, Coornhert used his correspondence with such friends as Van Montfoort to develop new ideas and to propound his latest writings. His correspondents’ questions challenged him to formulate his ideas on different subjects. Sometimes his letters became quite polemical, but my impression is that Coornhert preferred to save his polemical power for public debate. I suspect that he did not regard his letters as a part of the public debate in the first place, although he must have known that they were copied and circulated—he knew that at least one of his letters had been published without his consent in 1582. But whether he was aware of the fact that his letters were read by many eyes or not, in Coornhert’s case there is no reason whatsoever to think that he made a distinction between what he wrote in his private letters and what he said in the public sphere. He was too strong a personality to be crushed between the religious Scylla and Charybdis of the late sixteenth century. His strong convictions made him (at least in the eyes of his opponents) a threat in himself, not a person to be threatened. They feared his influence, and they were probably right to do so. Coornhert indubitably remained himself at all times: he lived with the firmness he proclaimed and preached.

Jansz Barrefelt,] Sendt-brieven wt yverighe herten (Leiden: C. Plantin, 1583–1584); see also L.G. [= Lubbert Gerrits], Sommighe christelijcke sendt-brieven, ghesonden aen diversche gementen (Amsterdam 1611). 58 Vier brieven D. Ioannis Calvini, overghezet wt het Latijn in onse tale, inhoudende eenen goeden ende christelicken raet [s.l. 1612].

PIUS LIPSIUS OR LIPSIUS PROTEUS?* Jeanine De Landtsheer (Leuven) Quando hic [Mediolani] sum, non ieiuno Sabbato; quando Romae sum ieiuno Sabbato. 1

In 1605, Theodore Galle (1571–1633) engraved a portrait of Lipsius at the age of 58 to be inserted in the humanist’s famous edition of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, dedicated to Pope Paul V and published in Antwerp in September of that same year. [Fig. 17] Underneath, a distich composed by Henricus d’Oultremannus resounds with Lipsius’s praise: Lipsiadae velum est Timantis imago. Videri Sol quoque sub picea non nisi nube potest. Lipsius’s portrait wears the veil of Timanthes. Under a pine tree even the Sun can only be seen through its cloud-like crown.

In the first verse the author alludes to a painter of Antiquity, Timanthes (late 5th century B.C.), who represented Agamemnon with his head covered by a veil because unable to express the grief of the king when he had to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia. With this reference, the humanist poet uses a very popular topos found in verses accompanying humanist portraits: no representation whatsoever, belonging to either the visual arts or the written world, could sufficiently express the real significance of Lipsius for the scholarly world.2 With his right hand Lipsius is holding a book, while his left one is resting on the head of one of his beloved dogs, Saphyrus. The dog, a spaniel, was given to him by Theodorus Leeuwius (1548–1596), one of his former students and later councillor at the Court of Holland, in March–April 1590. * I am indebted to Brenda Hosington for correcting my English. 1 Ambrose quoted in Augustine, Letters, 36, 32: ‘When here [in Milan], I do not fast on Saturday; but when in Rome I fast on Saturday.’ 2 On this engraving, see K. Van Ommen, in J. De Landtsheer et al., Lieveling van de Latijnse taal. Justus Lipsius te Leiden herdacht bij zijn vierhonderdste sterfdag , Kleine publicaties van de Leidse Universiteitsbibliotheek 72 (Leiden 2006), 249–250—ill. 63 and Chris Coppens, in G. Tournoy, J. Papy, and J. De Landtsheer (eds), Lipsius en Leuven. Catalogus van de tentoonstelling in de Centrale Bibliotheek te Leuven, 18 september–17 oktober 1997, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 13 (Leuven 1997), 352–355; ill. 116.

304

jeanine de l and ts heer

Fig. 17. Theodore Galle, Portrait of Justus Lipsius, engraving 1605. Catholic University Leuven, Central Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. PA 81

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

305

After being Lipsius’s faithful companion for eleven years, the animal met an atrocious death in August 1601, when it fell into a kettle of boiling water.3 More than 125 years later, in 1733, Adolf van der Laan (1684/90– after 1755) sought his inspiration in Theodore Galle’s work to draw a similar portrait.4 [Fig. 18] Here too Lipsius is accompanied by his dog, but for an entirely different reason, as becomes clear from the poem beneath the portrait, composed by Arnold Hendrik Westerhoff: Was Wetenschap altydt met Godtvrucht ryk beparelt, Men zag in Lipsius een wonder van de Warelt. In’t Pausdom opgekweekt, was hy daar aan verslaaft. In Saxen noemde hy Lutherus geest begaaft Ter Kerk-hervorming; maar hy prees Calvyn te Leyden, Als ware Gods-gezandt; dog meende geen van beiden. Tot zyn uytbraakzel laatst te Leuven weêr gekeert Met zyn beminden Hond, het Roomsche Babel eert. Was scholarship by godliness always richly pearled, one would consider Lipsius a wonder of this world. Raised in Papacy it made him addicted. In Saxony he acknowledged Luther as gifted

3 Cf. resp. ILE 3, 90 03 24 and 90 04 01 L addressed to Leeuwius about how the dog became Lipsius’s pet; see also ILE 14, 01 08 29 with an epitaph to Philip Rubens about its sudden death. The dog is described in an appendix to Lipsius’s autobiographical letter, ILE 13, 00 10 01. ILE refers to the series Iusti Lipsi Epistolae; Pars I: 1564–1583 , ed. A. Gerlo, M. Nauwelaerts, and H.D.L. Vervliet (1978); Pars II: 1584–1587 , ed. M. Nauwelaerts and S. Sué (1983); Pars III: 1588–1590 , ed. S. Sué and H. Peeters (1987); Pars [IV]: 1591, [forthcoming in 2011]; Pars V: 1592, ed. J. De Landtsheer and J. Kluyskens (1991); Pars VI: 1593 , ed. J. De Landtsheer (1994); Pars VII: 1594 , ed. Ead. (1997); Pars VIII: 1595, ed. Ead. (Brussels, 2004); Pars [IX]: 1596, ed. H. Peeters [forthcoming]; Pars [X]: 1597 , ed. J. De Landtsheer and H. Peeters; Pars [XI]: 1598 , ed. T. Deneire [forthcoming]; Pars XIII: 1600, ed. J. Papy (2000); Pars XIV: 1601, ed. J. De Landtsheer (2006); Pars [XV]: 1602, ed. Ead. [forthcoming]; Pars [XVI]: 1603, ed. F. Vanhaecke [forthcoming]. I am also preparing the edition of the final parts, XVII– XIX. See on these letters about Saphyrus J. De Landtsheer, ‘ Iusti Lipsi Epistolica institutio ou L’art d’écrire des lettres’, in L. Nadjo and E. Gavoille (eds), Epistulae Antiquae II. Actes du IIe colloque international “Le genre épistolaire antique et ses prolongements européens”, Université François Rabelais, Tours, 28–30 septembre 2000 (Leuven-Paris 2002), 407–423. About Lipsius’s love for his dogs, see J. Papy, ‘Justus Lipsius and his Dogs: Humanist Tradition, Iconography and Rubens’s Four Philosophers’, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 62 (1999), 167–198. 4 The engraving was published in G. Outhof, Levensbeschryving van beroemde en geleerde mannen (Amsterdam: A. Wor, 1730–1733).

306

jeanine de l and ts heer

Fig. 18. Adolf van der Laan, Portrait of Justus Lipsius, engraving 1733. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. Singer 18.538

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

307

in reforming the Church, yet praised Calvin in Leiden as God’s true messenger, without in fact accepting either. Finally returned to Leuven to his vomit with his beloved dog, the Roman Babylon he honoured. 5

In these verses the author blames Lipsius for what he considers the inconstancy of his religious ideas: Lipsius was raised a Catholic, although Westerhoff was probably not aware that he had even entered the noviciate of the Jesuit order when he was studying in Cologne (1559–1564).6 Between October 1572 and March 1574, Lipsius taught History and Retoric at the University of Jena and delivered a few orations with a Lutheran or an anti-Spanish slant, although he objected strongly to any suggestions of publishing them. After a short intermezzo in his strife-torn native country, he decided to accept an invitation from his friend Janus Dousa Sr to lecture on History and Latin at the still very new University of Leiden, inaugurated on 8 February 1575 as a Protestant and anti-Spanish counterpart of Leuven and Douai in the Southern Netherlands. 7 He lived and lectured in Leiden from April 1578 until March 1591. The fact that he finally returned to the Catholic South is announced by a reference to Proverbs 26:11, repeated in 2 Peter 2:22: ‘As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly’. 8 In this way Lipsius’s pet had become a metaphor to underline its owner’s versatility. These portraits bring me to the heart of the matter. On the one hand, there is the praise for Lipsius, who earned himself a reputation in humanist circles throughout Europe as a gifted Latinist and 5 Cf. on this engraving K. Van Ommen, in Lieveling van de Latijnse taal, 252–253, ill. 39; C. Coppens, in Lipsius en Leuven, 365–367, ill. 122. 6 Lipsius was admitted to the noviciate on 29 September 1562, cf. J. Hansen, Rheinische Akten zur Geschichte des Jesuitenordens 1542–1582 (Bonn 1896), 781; J. Kluyskens, ‘Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) and the Jesuits with four unpublished letters’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 23 (1974), 244–270 (esp. p. 244–246, 262–264). 7 On Janus Dousa, cf. C. Heesakkers, in De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk . Catalogus van de tentoonstelling in de Centrale Bibliotheek te Leuven, 18 oktober–20 december 2006, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 21 (Leuven 2006), 131–144 with further bibliography; Idem, Twee Leidse boezemvrienden van Justus Lipsius: Janus Dousa en Jan van Hout, in J. De Landtsheer and P. Delsaerdt (eds), ‘ Iam illustravit omnia.’ Justus Lipsius als lievelingsauteur van het Plantijnse Huis , De Gulden Passer 84, (Antwerp 2006), 1–19. 8 The exact source escaped Van Ommen, who erroneously refers to Phil. 3:2 and is not mentioned by Coppens either.

308

jeanine de l and ts heer

an inexhaustible source of knowledge of the Greek and Roman world, a knowledge always generously shared with his students and correspondents. On the other, there is this controversial reaction, already perceptible during the last years of his life, increasingly intensified and focusing on religious matters, so that even nowadays specialist literature often continues to label him a defector, traitor, and weathervane, without paying too much attention to the esteem for and influence of Lipsius’s intellectual heritage throughout the seventeenth century, which transcended confessional rifts. In this paper I propose to tackle this tricky subject and determine, with the help of the correspondence, whether Lipsius was indeed an inconstant Proteus, changing religious sides whenever it suited him, or whether this biased point of view needs to be adjusted. Particular attention will be paid to the correspondence written during his thirteen-year’s stay in Leiden and the years immediately following. Lipsius in Lutheran Jena About Lipsius’s stay in Lutheran Jena one can be brief, for he spent barely one and a half years there, and only a limited number of letters (about thirty) have survived. We are thus left with some questions and ambiguities about this early period which in all probability will never be resolved. 9 First, there is the reason why Lipsius left his native country in late 1571 or early 1572. According to an autobiographical letter dated 1 October 1600, Lipsius fled from the Netherlands because of unremitting, violent political and religious troubles under the government of Alva, ‘the Iron Duke’, as he was nicknamed.10 9 On Lipsius’s stay in Jena, see S. Sué, ‘Iustus Lipsius’ verblijf in Jena aan de hand van zijn briefwisseling en redevoeringen, 1572–1574’, in Handelingen (van de) Zuidnederlandse Maatschappij voor Taal- en Letterkunde en Geschiedenis 22 (1968), 389–410 and M. Vielberg, ‘Justus Lipsius en Jena’, in R. Dusoir, J. De Landtsheer, and D. Imhof (eds), Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) en het Plantijnse huis , Publicaties van het Museum Plantin-Moretus en het Stedelijk Prentenkabinet 37 (Antwerp 1997), 53–62. The correspondence from this period is published as ILE 1, 72 09 15 H—74 03 12. 10 It was published by Lipsius as Epistolarum selectarum centuria miscellanea singularis (Antwerp: J. Moretus, 1602), 87 (this collection became the Centuria miscellanea tertia in all later editions, to begin with 1605). For its annotated edition, see ILE 13, 00 10 01. It was a primary source used by Lipsius’s biographer Aubertus Miraeus in his De obitu Iusti Lipsi epistola (Augsburg: C. Mangus, 1606), a few years later reworked into Vita sive Elogium Iusti Lipsi (Antwerp: D. Martinus, 1609) and reissued four years later as part of the thoroughly revised and extended edition of Iusti

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

309

A similar argumentation is used in the first chapter of De constantia, although in this fictitious dialogue Lipsius’s departure is advanced by one year.11 In his article Lipsius’ jeugd Hendrik D.L. Vervliet put forward the hypothesis that Lipsius, who after a brief sojourn in Rome had enlisted again in Leuven as a Law student, might have enjoyed the company of his landlady, Anna Lottijns, née Vanden Calstere, a bit too much (or perhaps it was the other way around). Hence he had to take leave somewhat precipitately to avoid further troubles with her husband.12 Se non è vero, è ben trovato, but one should bear in mind that there is no conclusive proof whatsoever that this was indeed the case, even though Lipsius married her one and a half years later, after she had become a widow. After a long journey the humanist arrived in Vienna, where he spent the summer months in the vain hope of obtaining a position at Emperor Maximilian II’s court. He must have been introduced there to the gnesio-Lutheran theologian Tilemann Heshuss, then Rector of the University of Jena, who encouraged him to apply for the vacant chair of History at his institution. According to the aforementioned autobiographical letter, Lipsius’s learned friends at the court had wanted to keep him in Vienna, whereas he himself preferred to return to Leuven. Lipsius had already mapped out his home journey via Bohemia, Misnia and Thüringen when he heard that war was fiercely raging once again in his homeland and his estate in Overijse had suffered severely from the Spanish troops. This bad news made him abandon his plans. Joachim Camerarius, whom he met in Leipzig, gave him a letter of recommendation for Jena and soon afterwards his candidacy for the chair of History and Eloquence was accepted. 13 There were, however, Lipsi Sapientiae et Litterarum Antistitis Fama postuma (Antwerp: B. Moretus, 1613), 105–150. See also K. Enenkel, ‘Lipsius als Modellgelehrter: die Lipsius-Biographie des Miraeus’, in G. Tournoy, J. De Landtsheer, and J. Papy (eds), Iustus Lipsius, Europae Lumen et Columen. Proceedings of the International Colloquium LeuvenAntwerp 17–20 September 1997 , Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 15 (Leuven 1999), 47–66. 11 De constantia libri duo. Qui alloquium praecipue continent in publicis malis (Leiden: C. Plantin, 1584). Part of the issue was published with the Antwerp address on the title page; the treatise was already available in the autumn of 1583. 12 H.D.L. Vervliet, Lipsius’ jeugd, 1547–1578: Analecta voor een kritische bibliografie, Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Akademie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Letteren 31, 7 (Brussels 1969), 38–39. 13 See ILE 13, 00 10 01, 106–111. The candidacy was read and accepted on 20 September and he was officially appointed on 23 October 1572.

310

jeanine de l and ts heer

three conditions: Lipsius had to adhere to the Lutheran creed, submit his qualification as magister artium, and present a testimony of moral integrity. Since he was explicitly recommended by the Rector and theologian Heshuss, and was able to claim Duke Johann Wilhelm’s support as well, the first condition did not cause many problems. There is not even the slightest hint that he was ever obliged to swear or make a kind of public testimony. Because he had to earn a living, he must have thought, ‘Who pays the piper calls the tune’ and agreed, without taking into consideration any future implications. In a letter written a year before his death, he asserted that the rumours about his writings in particular were exaggerated and flatly mendacious. As to his way of life, it was too easy to find at least an appearance of guilt and point a finger at a young man who was living amidst flattering or threatening people adhering to another religion. 14 There are no testimonies that Lipsius ever took part in Lutheran worship, but in the oratio funebris for his patron Johann Wilhelm of Saxony († 2 March 1573) he openly criticized elements of the Catholic faith in favour of Lutheranism, although some of these themes were probably introduced to pay tribute to the creed of the deceased. Apparently he prepared his Oratio funebris for the press and even addressed a praefatio to the duke’s widow, Dorothea-Susanna, but soon became apprehensive of the implications whenever he returned to Catholic regions. Hence he withdrew his text: it had to be perused, corrected and completed. One year later, when paying Duchess Dorothea-Susanna a farewell visit on his way home, the matter of the publication was raised once more. Again Lipsius refused politely, but more firmly now.15 Nevertheless, Andreas Ellinger had the Oratio funebris published some years after Lipsius’s departure (Jena: Donatus Richtzenhan 1577). 16

14 Cf. ILE [18,] 05 07 17 HA: ‘Scito illos augere et fortiter mentiri, praesertim quod ad scripta. [. . .] In aliena religione, in aestu adolescentiae inter blandientes aut terrentes, facile fuit speciem culpae venire, si non culpam.’ 15 Cf. ILE 1, 73 05 16 and 73 04 01 respectively. 16 In the course of the seventeenth century it was reprinted a few times, e.g., on the death of Johann Wilhelm’s son Friederich: Iusti Lipsii Oratio de obitu Illustrissimi Principis Iohannis Gulielmi, Ducis Saxoniae, Qui vivere desiit XXIV Februarii, anno salutis ∞.D.LXIII. Habita Ienae, Die XVIIII Martii anno eodem. Numquam satis laudati Principis ac Domini, Domini Friderici Gulielmi, Ducis Saxoniae, qui cum flagrantissimo Sacrae Caesareae maiestatis, singulorum Romani Imperii Ordinum, maritae sobolisque dilectissimae atque adeo omnium vere piorum civiumque bonorum desiderio, in vera Christi agnitione, constanti eius confessione et ardenti invocatione animam suam placide efflavit. Die VII Iulii anno MDCII, consecrata, Halle: E.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

311

Johann Wilhelm’s successor, Duke Augustus of Saxony, scion of a different branch of the house, preferred to embark on a more moderate course along the lines set out by Philip Melanchthon, and banished most of the more extreme professors from the Saxonian universities, Heshuss among them. In Jena only four professors were allowed to stay, among them Lipsius and his friend Andreas Ellinger. Lipsius, who had become dean of the Artes faculty in the meantime, used the promotion of seven of his students to magistri artium to express his support for the sovereign’s more tolerant ideas. This Oratio de duplica concordia was a plea to protect the peace of mind of Jena’s scholarly world and to guarantee unanimity in religious matters. Augustus of Saxony was compared with his namesake from the Roman Empire and his plea for tolerance seen as the counterpart of the Augustean peace. Once again Lipsius spoke in favour of the Lutheran church and against Catholicism, without publishing his text. Nevertheless, copies of his Orationes circulated and both were printed repeatedly from the early seventeenth century onwards, without his authorisation or even his being aware of them. In 1600, Melchior Goldast edited the Oratio de duplici concordia (Zürich: Rudolph Nyssenbach). Lipsius, who was by then living in the Catholic South, was outraged. He rejected its authorship and called upon the privilege granted him by Emperor Rudolph II to have the city council and the aldermen of Frankfurt confiscate the whole supply at the semi-annual bookfair. 17 The conclusion one draws from Lipsius’s Jena period is that it clearly demonstrated his most opportunistic side. Since he needed an income for the time being, he eagerly took the first occasion that came his way, readily accepting the conditions put forward to him, without too many qualms about being sincere. 18 If a Jena professor had to be a Lutheran, Hynitzius for J. Kruseken (a copy is preserved in Wolfenbüttel, shelf number 171.3 Quod. (11) 4o). 17 His letter of protest is not preserved, but in ILE 13, 00 09 29 he expresses his gratitude for their prompt action and tries to prove that he was not its author. On this matter, see K. Halm, ‘Über die Ächtheit der dem Justus Lipsius zugeschriebenen Reden’, in Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-philologischen und der historischen Klasse der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaft zu München 2 (1882), 1–37. Further editions of both the Oratio funebris and the Oratio de duplici concordia are mentioned in F. Vander Haeghen and M.-Th. Lenger (eds), Bibliotheca Belgica: Bibliographie générale des Pays- Bas, 7 vols (Brussels 1964–1975). 18 After his marriage to Anna vanden Calstere, a well-to-do widow, in the first days of September 1573, the need to gain a living presumably became less urgent. Since

312

jeanine de l and ts heer

Lipsius was prepared to pay lip service to this creed. And this was not the only false pretext he used. Whereas no questions were raised with regard to his Lutheranism, the second condition of his appointment, concerning his qualification as magister artium, provoked a vehement conflict with his colleagues of the Arts faculty some six months later, in which both sides claimed the support of the dying Johann Wilhelm. When they kept insisting on seeing the diploma of his magisterium artium, Lipsius had to use all kinds of subterfuge, since he had left Cologne before it had been granted to him. 19 Lipsius in Protestant Leiden After his departure from Jena, Lipsius longed for the tranquillity of his estate. There, he could devote himself entirely to his studies and publications in the charming countryside in the neighbourhood of Overijse.20 Yet twice groups of mutineers or looting soldiers forced him to seek refuge within the walls of Leuven. A garrison billeted in the city and the approaching army commanded by Don Juan and his general, Alexander Farnese, caused much apprehension among the city’s population. Finally, Leuven surrendered and the Spanish troops entered without doing much harm, although creating some disturbance. 21 Afraid of reprisals because of his stay in Jena and presuming that peace was far away as long as Antwerp was still in Protestant hands, Lipsius decided to accept an enticing offer from his friend Janus Dousa to move to

she refused to move to Jena, Lipsius returned for the new semester, but handed in his notice at the beginning of March 1574. They met again in Cologne, where they spent the rest of the year before returning to Lipsius’s estate in Overijse and Leuven. 19 The conflict rose when Lipsius wanted to become dean of his faculty. Whereas the professors of the Artes refused to accept his equivocations about the testimonium, the rest of the faculty supported him. Without hesitation Johann Wilhelm confirmed Lipsius’s appointment and even granted him a raise in salary. The matter of the qualification was stirred up again about twenty years later; Lipsius defended himself and explained his point of view in a letter to Abraham Ortelius, cf. ILE 5, 92 02 09 O. 20 See ILE 1, 75 09 29 extolling life in the countryside and concluding with a poem, Laus et votum vitae beatae. 21 The houses of some scholars, who had fled Leuven, were burned. One of Lipsius’s cronies during his student days in Leuven, Ludovicus Carrio, lost all his books, whereas Lipsius’s own library was saved only thanks to the actions of another friend, Martinus Antonius Delrio. Lipsius thanked him in ILE 1, 78 03 04.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

313

Leiden, with its aura of tranquillity and religious tolerance, and the incentive of its newly-founded university. 22 The number of letters preserved from this period of Lipsius’s life increases with the years. Not only was he expanding his scholarly network throughout Europe, but he was also taking more care to file his correspondence away with the intention of publishing part of it. In doing so, he followed in the steps of many famous predecessors throughout the centuries. Yet, as only two hundred of his letters were published—a first Epistolarum centuria in 1586 and another in 1590— the major part of the letters are unaffected by later events and provide us with a fairly clear and objective view of his impressions and thoughts, and the evolution he underwent. Lipsius arrived in Leiden around 20 March 1578. On 5 April the University Board, consisting of the three Curators (his friend Dousa among them) and the Burgomasters of the town, appointed him to the chair of History and Law, although he would never lecture on Law. Despite a very warm welcome, he never ceased to make it clear to his friends in North and South from the very beginning that his stay was only temporary and that he intended to return to his native country once the situation had stabilized. For instance, in what must have been one of the first letters from his new home town, he reassured his friends Janus Lernutius and Victor Giselinus, who also were well acquainted with Dousa, as follows: Circumagunt me hae turbae in Numidae morem, et adhuc discurri sine lare, sine certis sedibus, quas tamen positurus in Batavis videor, Ordinum vocatu et stipendio sanequam honesto. Sed temporaneas, non perpetuas, saltem ‘dum hae consilescunt turbae atque irae leniunt.’ This turmoil kept me wandering as if I were a Bedouin, and until now I was running to and fro without a home, without anywhere to settle. But 22 On Lipsius’s thirteen-year stay in Leiden, see De Landtsheer, Lieveling van de Latijnse taal, 31–97; R.J. Van den Hoorn, ‘On course for quality. Justus Lipsius and Leiden University’, in K. Enenkel and C. Heesakkers (eds), Lipsius in Leiden. Studies in the Life and Works of a great Humanist (Voorthuizen 1997), 73–92; C.L. Heesakkers, ‘Justus Lipsius in Leiden’, in Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) en het Plantijnse huis , 63–74; Id., ‘Lipsius, Dousa and Jan van Hout. Latin and the vernacular in Leiden in the 1570s and 1580s’, in Lipsius in Leiden , 93–120. The correspondence from this period is published as ILE 1, 78 04 01—ILE [4,] 91 03 11. Letters addressed to Leiden when Lipsius had already left the city are not taken into account. One should also consult the addenda, to be published as the second half of ILE 19.

314

jeanine de l and ts heer I seem to have found this now in Holland, invited by the States with a more than honest payment. But it will be a temporary stay, not a definitive one, merely ‘until this turmoil has quietened down and the anger been calmed.’ 23

Affirmation that his stay in Leiden would not be permanent was often linked with complaints about bronchial tube infections; obviously, the dampness of Leiden and its windy climate did not agree very well with his constitution.24 But it was only after a serious liver infection lasting from the end of September 1584 until March 1585, an illness that kept him bed-ridden and forced him to cancel his lectures, that Lipsius became seriously concerned about his health. Throughout the thirteen years of his professorate, the scholar devoted himself conscientiously and with unflagging zeal to the welfare and expansion of the institution that hosted him. He did so not only from a scholarly or pedagogical point of view, but also in a very practical way, by improving its organisation and management, especially during the years he was Rector. 25 Yet, however ready he was to discuss and smooth over upsetting matters or to mediate in disputes between colleagues or between members of the university and townsmen, he always flatly refused to intervene whenever religion was the focal point. This, for instance, was the case when around January 1582 dissension had escalated once again between the more tolerant minister Caspar Coolhaes and his more rigorous fellow theologian, Cf. ILE 1, 78 04 01, 3–7 (dated 1 April 1578). The verse is a quotation from Plautus, Mil. 583 and is repeated in a similar context in a letter to another friend of his student days, Andreas Schott: ‘Nam Batavi, ut audisse te video, me tenent eiectum, imo Deo ducente elapsum illo naufragio, sed ita ut sedes mihi hic statuerim non ultra quam “dum hae consilescunt turbae atque irae leniunt”’ (For the Dutch, as I see you have heard, keep me here, an exile, or even more, someone who with God’s help escaped this shipwreck. Yet in such a way that I decided to settle here for no longer than ‘until this turmoil has quietened down and the anger been calmed’). Cf. ILE 1, 78 09 03, 6–9 (dated 3 September). 24 See, for example, ILE 1, 80 10 19, 10–11 addressed to Dousa: ‘Sed et mihi fatales ῥευματισμοὶ; molesti; quos ut effugiam, credo, aliquando hinc fugiam quovis terrarum’ (But for me too these infernal colds are a nuisance; to avoid them, I believe I will once have to flee from here to wheresoever on earth). To which Dousa, who was at that time staying in Utrecht, answered at length and with some sense of drama (ILE 1, 80 11 00, 105–121). 25 Lipsius was Rector from February 1579 to February 1581 and again from February 1587 to February 1589. Moreover, the letter appointing Thomas Sosius as Rector on 5 February 1591 ( ASF 283, f. 101), shows that Maurice of Nassau preferred to grant Lipsius a fifth term but had to choose Sosius instead, because Lipsius had asked for a sick leave during the first months of that year. 23

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

315

Lambertus Danaeus, who had started his lectures only in March 1581 but soon became frustrated by the climate of tolerance in Leiden. Lipsius expressed his worries about the conflict and its impact on the university in a number of letters, but refused to be involved in the commission that finally had to decide on the matter. He did not want to be burned by the flame that had caught so many already. Nevertheless, he was always willing to help them in other cases, as he politely explained to his friend Jan van Hout, the secretary of the University Board, which was made up of the Burgomasters of the city and the three Curators of the University. 26 Obviously the first years in Leiden were very successful for Lipsius, from both the scholarly and the social point of view. Despite his many administrative tasks—a proof of his colleagues’ esteem for him—he was able to finalize a number of publications, among them the revised, second edition of Tacitus and the long-awaited commentary (albeit only to the Annales), some antiquarian treatises, and one of his most influential philosophical treatises, the De constantia. He was a zealous teacher as well and the correspondence offers a testimony not only of his engagement towards his students, but also of their appreciation. As for the social point of view, the letters make it clear how much pleasure he took in meeting friends, the Dousa and Van Hout families in particular, enjoying learned discussions, parties, little trips, and a shared interest in gardening. Moreover, he encouraged a number of friends from the Spanish Netherlands, who where troubled by the incessant wars, to settle in the quiet and welcoming North. Until about 1584, the correspondence offers many testimonies that the scholar and his wife travelled to the Southern Netherlands, to Bruges or Antwerp, to visit friends, look after their estates in Brabant and collect possible rents, or to discuss forthcoming publications. Conversely, they often hosted guests from the South, especially since one of Plantin’s grandsons, Franciscus Raphelengius, Jr, was living with them from June 1578 onwards until he set out to continue his studies in Paris around October 1584. 27 However, the impending siege of 26 See, for example, ILE 1, 81 07 26 V; 82 01 20; 82 01 23 R; 82 03 15 C; 82 03 17. In the letter to Van Hout, ILE 1, 82 05 14 H, Lipsius wrote: ‘Nam ego, etsi vere et ex animo cupio magistratui et tibi omnia facta, tamen haesit mihi decretum illud meum [ . . . ] rebus religionis non misceri. Amburi nolo illa flamma, quae hodie multos involvit. [ . . . ] Itaque peto a te ut hac in re me apud tuos excuses [ . . . ] et si quid aliud est, in quo utibilis ego vobis, poscite.’ 27 Cf. ILE 2, 84 09 23 R.

316

jeanine de l and ts heer

Antwerp made such visits more and more difficult. Worried about the increasing pressure of Alexander Farnese’s army on the city and its Protestant government, Plantin decided to follow Lipsius’s example and moved to Leiden with a few presses in April 1583. 28 Thanks to his friend’s support he was allowed to set up a printing house and was appointed the official printer of the successful university. Although it was most convenient and stimulating to have his printer and a dear friend living close at hand, Lipsius felt less and less at ease and increasingly apprehensive because of political changes and their religious consequences. The murder of William the Silent, the Pater patriae († Delft, 10 July 1584), had caused a political earthquake within the Northern Provinces. In Lipsius’s eyes, his sudden death left the Northern Low Countries leaderless: Maurice, only seventeen years old, lacked his father’s authority and the experience to keep the States in check. To boot, the humanist did not believe in a polyarchia, as he calls it, a political system consisting of a conglomerate of states trying to agree about external policy but following their own course and interests in all other matters. By the end of the summer he wrote to Franciscus Raphelengius, Sr, then still in Antwerp, in general terms: Nam tempestas, quae et quam subito exorta sit vides, nec aquae ipsae satis tutae, in quibus hactenus spes nostrae. Deus ista gubernat, mi Raphelengi, Deus, eaque ad meliorem aliquem finem e turbis istis concinnabit praeter spem nostram atque opinionem. Fide tantum. Nos hic iure turbati morte illius magni capitis. Tamen turbati, non deiecti constamus adhuc, nec discrimen tam praesens videtur, si Ordines concordiam cum praesentia animi coniungant. For you see the storm and how suddenly it has arisen, and even the waters, where we found our hope until now, are not safe enough. The Lord rules all this, Raphelengius, the Lord, and he will calm this turbulence bringing a happier end beyond our hope and imagining. Be confident! We are rightly upset about the death of our head of state. Yet we are upset, not cast down, and we stand firm until now, and the peril does not seem that imminent, if only the States combine unanimity with presence of mind. 29

Two months later he explicitly mentioned a possible departure due to the continuing unrest:

28 On Christopher Plantin, cf. De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, (1547–1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk , 554–565. 29 Cf. ILE 2, 84 09 23 R, 3–9.

Justus Lipsius

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

317

Videbo quid vires, quid valetudo, quid tempora etiam permittent, quae minari nobis migrationem videntur et alias sedes. Nam haec navis ut fluctuet, vides; quam utinam non referant in mare altum novi venti! I will see what my strength, my health, the circumstances permit; they seem to threaten me with migration and settling elsewhere. For you see how this ship of state is fluctuating; if only new winds will not push it towards the open sea. 30

The criticism became louder and more pointed in a long letter to one of his former students, Theodorus Leeuwius, who was by then councillor of the Court of Holland and probably had complained and expressed his concern about the state of affairs (his letter is lost). It is worth discussing in some detail, because it gives a clear picture of Lipsius’s ideas and is also brilliantly written. Once again he referred to the death of William of Orange as the origin of the misfortunes: ‘Fallor aut profecto labitur hoc libertatis atrium, imo ruit utique post deiectam grandem illam columnam quae sola fulciebat’ (I must be wrong or this Hall of Freedom is certainly reeling, yes indeed, it is crashing to the ground now that this mighty column has been pulled down, which was its only support). 31 He had little faith in the States General: [. . .] quibus alii boni, sed imperiti; pars magna mala, lucri cupida et suae, non publicae rei. Itaque multi isti Sinones facile imponunt pauculis illis Priamis et Troiam hanc producunt hosti. [. . .] some of its members are honest men, but without experience; the majority, however, are bad, lusting for profit and bent on their own interest rather than that of the state. Hence these many Sinons easily deceived the Priams and opened our Troy to the enemy. 32

In the next lines, the humanist inveighed strongly against these unreliable, short-sighted, and utterly selfish politicians:

30 Cf. ILE 2, 84 11 06 T, 12–15 to Laevinus Torrentius, vicar to the Prince Bishop of Liège, Ernest of Bavaria, and future bishop of Antwerp. See on him De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk, 352–365. 31 Cf. ILE 2, 85 06 28 LE, 10–12. No wonder that this letter, preserved among Lipsius’s copies (Leiden, UB, ms. Lips. 3(1), f. 13), was not included in Lipsius’s Epistolarum centuriae. It was, however, posthumously published in Iusti Lipsii ad Theodorum Leeuwium Epistolae (Leiden, 1649) and in Petrus Burmannus, Sylloges epistolarum a viris illustribus scriptarum tomi V, 5 vols (Leiden: Samuel Luchtmans, 1724–1727), 1, 39–41, no. 37. 32 Ibid., 13–15.

318

jeanine de l and ts heer Nosti ipse eorum ingenia et mores et quam unum hoc curent, ut per publicam hanc tempestatem sarcinulas suas salvas habeant, imo auctas. Hi sunt vultures patriae, hirudines aerarii, qui adflixere rempub[licam] istam et adfligent, quamdiu locus iis in puppi. Quid censes? Victoriam spectare eos aut meliorem statum? Imo tumultum, noctem, turbas, e quibus creverunt et per quae vivunt. Redeant enim et revolvantur ipsi iterum ad suas tenebras, si sol aliquis illucescat firmae bonaeque gubernationis. Ut blattae et stelliones lucem fugiunt, sic quietem rapones isti. You know their characters and their manners and how there is only one thing they really take to heart, viz. how they can keep their purses safe, and even add to them amidst this tempest. They are vultures preying on their native country, leeches bleeding the public treasury, who have afflicted and continue to afflict the state, as long as there is room for them on the stern. What do you think? That they are seeking victory or a better state? On the contrary, they are bent on uproar, night, turmoil, which make them thrive and are their breath of life. For they might take their leave and return again to their darkness if the sun of firm and good statecraft would shine. As cockroaches and newts run away from light, likewise these robbers are shy of tranquillity. 33

Not a good word could be said about the army either; ‘quite the contrary: no honest man can look at it and keep his eyes dry’ (adeo contra est, ut nemo bonus eam intueatur oculo sicco). The soldiers were a motley crew sine disciplina reperies, sine ordine, manibus rapaces, pedibus fugaces, et in quibus linea nulla aut color militum, nisi quod avidi praedae, sed eius ipsius tamen incruentae. Adde quod tyrones, quod subitarii, quod e faece collecti, in quibus nihil aut virium aut animorum. Iam ipsi duces quid? Temerarii, caeci, properi, ut unam illis provisionem cautionemque hanc iures, nihil provide agere, nihil caute. [ . . . ] Canes enim ecce ab illa parte et leones prodeunt; a nobis lepores aliquot galeati, quos hinnuleus ducit aut cervus. without discipline or order, with grabbing hands and skedaddling feet; there are no traces of military lines or colours, except that they are all greedy for booty, albeit without shedding a drop of their own blood. Moreover, most of them are young soldiers, hastily recruted, picked out of the scum, without a spark of strength or courage. And what about the officers? Rash, blind, hasty men whose only prudence and precaution, as you would swear, consists in doing nothing prudently or cautiously.

33

Ibid., 15–22.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

319

[. . .] On the other side you see dogs and lions appear; on our side are hares wearing helmets, led by a little foal or a deer. 34

These evils, Lipsius continued, were almost innate to their kind of government and could only be corrected ‘not by changing it but by turning it upside down. The confusion of [various] councils must be cleared, the polyarchia removed, and the main part of the common wealth put in the hands of only one man.’ 35 In later letters, too, written when he had again settled in the Southern Low Countries, he would formulate his distrust and negative opinion about the political system in the North. 36 According to him, no person of authority, wisdom and reliance could be found within the Netherlands. Hence the government had to look abroad, as they already did, but without much success, for the king of France had wheedled and spurned them. The other possible resource, England, was governed by a woman; she promised plenty, but it was doubtful whether she would keep all her pledges, as she had to pay heed to her rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, and to the dissensions within her realm. It goes without saying that Lipsius closed his letter with the urgent warning that this straightforward letter was intended for his correspondent’s eyes only. 37 On 20 August 1585, Queen Elizabeth and the ambassadors of the Northern Provinces, Dousa among them, came to an agreement (the 34 Cf. ibid., 24–29. The need of a well disciplined army would also be discussed in his Politica sive civilis doctrinae libri sex (Leiden: F. Raphelengius, 1589), 5, 13, where disciplina is described as praecipuum decus et stabilimentum imperii (the chief adornment and support of a reign) and severa conformatio militis ad robur et virtutem (the strict formation of a soldier to strength and virtue). The subject was expounded at great length in book V of De militia Romana (Antwerp: J. Moretus, 1595–1596), which, in fact, covered the second half of the whole treatise. 35 Cf. ibid., 37–39: ‘Evertenda haec forma reipub[licae] est, non convertenda. Confusio ista consiliorum tollenda, πολυαρχία removenda et caput salutis nostrae ponendum in capite uno.’ This preference for monarchy is explained in the Politica, 2, 2, a chapter entitled Divisio imperii. Principatus, prima et optima eius pars; id variis argumentis ostensum (Subdivision of constitution. Monarchy as its oldest and best part, as proved by various arguments). 36 Cf. three letters in which Lipsius gives his opinion about the policy the Spanish king should adopt towards his enemies, ILE 8, 95 01 02 S; [9,] 96 07 20 C, and [17,] 04 01 26 V. See on these letters (the first one in particular), N. Mout, Justus Lipsius between War and Peace. His Public Letter on Spanish Foreign Policy and the Respective Merits of War, Peace or Truce (1595) , in J. Pollmann and A. Spicer (eds), Public Opinion and Changing Identities in the Early Modern Netherlands (Leiden-Boston 2007), 141–162. 37 Cf. ILE 2, 85 06 28 LE, 64–65: ‘Hanc epistolam uni tibi libere scriptam ab uno te velim legi.’ Another letter to Leeuwius, dealing with the disadvantages of polyarchia and the political situation is ILE 3, [88 07 00].

320

jeanine de l and ts heer

Treaty of Nonsuch): she promised them military and financial support until they had concluded a satisfactory treaty with the Spanish king. In exchange she was given control of the strategically important ports of Flushing and The Brill, both garrisoned at her expense, but it took several months before her representatives finally set foot ashore. Lipsius’s correspondence from the second half of 1585 several times echoes his growing impatience and uncertainty. Early in 1586 he briefly outlined the agreement and expressed some satisfaction with the solution in a letter to Henricus Ranzovius, a nobleman from Schleswig-Holstein and an influential politician at the Danish court.38 Lipsius clearly had good contacts with Philip Sidney and Thomas Cecil, Earl Burghley, who had been appointed governors of the aforementioned ports. Several letters were exchanged during the short period Sidney was living in Flushing. One contained a plea to intervene in favour of Plantin’s agent, who was captured and ransomed by the English garrison of Bergen-op-Zoom. 39 On Sidney’s request Lipsius also composed a short treatise on the correct pronunciation of the Latin language (De recta pronuntiatione linguae Latinae), which he dedicated to the English nobleman shortly after the latter’s arrival on the Continent.40 When Paul Buys, one of the three Curators of Leiden University, was taken prisoner in Utrecht on 19 July of that same year, Lipsius approached both Sidney ( ILE 2, 86 08 30) and William Cecil, Thomas’s father (ILE 2, 86 09 23, to have him freed. 41 Some years later

38 Cf. ILE 2, 86 04 05, 14: ‘Respublica apud nos paullo melior adventu Anglorum’ (Our State is doing somewhat better thanks to the coming of the English). This is followed by a brief report on who was sent and the conditions of the treaty (ll. 14–26). 39 On Philip Sidney, cf. De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547– 1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk , 160–166. 40 Cf. its dedicatory letter, ILE 2, 86 03 17, and a recent, bilingual and annotated edition by E. Dévière (ed.), Iustus Lipsius. De recta pronuntiatione Latinae linguae dialogus. Juste Lipse. Dialogue sur la prononciation correcte du latin. Édition, traduction, commentaire, Noctes Neolatinae 6 (Hildesheim-Zürich-New York 2006). The work was among the first to be published by Franciscus Raphelengius, who had succeeded Plantin in Leiden since the beginning of the year. Part of the issue appeared with the Antwerp imprint on its titlepage, to allow it to be sold in the Southern Provinces as well. Nevertheless Plantin preferred to remove the dedicatory letter in almost all of these copies, to avoid any conflict with the authorities. 41 Buys had to wait until 24 January before he was given his freedom. Cf. W. van Everdingen, Het leven van Mr. P. Buys (Leiden 1895), 146–157.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

321

he showed his esteem for Thomas Cecil by dedicating his second Centuria of letters to him. 42 Meanwhile, Lipsius became aware that the political change had implications for the way of life in general and that the region’s much praised tolerance was gradually shrinking. The pace of this process was increased after the Fall of Antwerp (17 August 1585), when the authorities of Church and State in the South stated that citizens who had converted to Protestantism had to make up their mind either to become Catholics again and stay, or to remain Protestant and leave the country within the next four years. This decision caused a flow of refugees from Brabant, but also from Flanders, towards the North, so that after some years the number of recently-converted Protestants surpassed that of the natives, as was the case, for instance, in Leiden, Haarlem, and Amsterdam.43 Of course, these immigrants, who had left their goods and chattels behind because of their religious convictions, were little disposed to tolerance towards Catholics living in a country that was first and foremost Protestant. Hence dissension was gradually building up between the various Protestant fractions themselves. The tendency towards a stricter attitude in religious matters was enforced by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the third of Queen Elizabeth’s representatives, who had been appointed Governor General of the Northern Low Countries and favoured the strict Protestants. 44 After his arrival, freedom of movement and trade between the North and the South, already seriously curtailed by the siege of Antwerp in 1584– 1585, was put under embargo. Leicester, who was a rigorous Protestant, even considered taking steps to move the university from the rather liberal Leiden to the more strictly Protestant Utrecht and soon the Northern Provinces were facing an irreparable rift between themselves, which was the precursor of the conflict between the Gomarists and Arminians at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Lipsius vented his apprehensiveness in a letter to Marnix of St Aldegond, who was by that time living in his castle in West-Souburg near Flushing: 42 Viz. Epistolarum centuriae duae. Quarum prior innovata, altera nova (Leiden: F. Raphelengius 1590). The dedicatory letter was published as ILE 3, 90 04 11. 43 See on this issue, e.g., A. Van Schelven, Omvang en invloed der Zuid-Nederlandse immigratie van het laatste kwart der 16e eeuw (The Hague 1919) and J.G.C.A. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek 1572–1630. Een demografische en cultuurhistorische studie (Sint-Niklaas 1985). 44 There are no traces of epistolary contacts with Robert Dudley.

322

jeanine de l and ts heer Utinam inter nos saepius videremus! Loca vetant et tempora, quae maligna in bonos; plena suspicionum omnia et praesertim in dominanti nunc gente, quae ab hoc vitio non aliena. If only we could see each other more frequently! But this is refused us by the places where we are living and these times, which are malignant towards all honest men. Suspicion is everywhere, especially in the nation that is lord and master now, for it is quite familiar with that vice.

Next he discussed his plans for the future in an outspoken way, asking his friend for advice: Quid suades? Secedere mihi ex his locis decretum vel abire. Istud turbae suadent et bellum, cui non finis; illud morbus lentus, pertinax, et cui medici remedium quoque unum ponunt [ . . . ], aquas. [ . . . ] Acidi fontes in Eburonibus sunt, quae viae tamen nunc parum tutae. Sed eiusdem generis et virium mihi esse dicti, imo et lecti apud Andernacum et Confluentes. Huc magis spectem. Eadem fortasse de loco circumspiciam, ubi languorem hunc et otium ponam aut sepeliam. Legere istud et docere paullatim mihi molestum. So what is your advice? I have decided either to quit these places or to go away for a short while. If I decide to do the former, it is on account of the turmoil and war, which is dragging on interminably; if the latter, it is because of this lasting and tenacious illness, against which there is only one remedy, according to physicians, going to a spa. There are sources rich of minerals in the neighbourhood of Liège, but the ways to get there are not very safe. But I have been told and have read about sources with the same healing properties in the neighbourhood of Andernach and Koblenz. I would rather go that way and on that same journey I can perhaps look out for a place where I can dispel or bury this languor and inactivity. All this reading and teaching is getting more and more of a burden for me. 45

On 13 September 1586, the Board of Leiden University rejected Lipsius’s request to resign for health reasons, but did grant him a sick leave of about half a year to take the waters in the neighbourhood of Frankfurt.46 The scholar agreed, but still pondered the possibility of proceeding on his travels to the Southern Netherlands once his health

45 For both quotes, see ILE 2, 86 04 01 M, 12–20. Lipsius kept this letter too among his drafts without publishing it (Leiden, UB, ms. Lips. 3(7), f. 1). It was, however, included one and a half century later by Burmannus ( Sylloges, 1, 156–157, no. 152). 46 Cf. P.C. Molhuysen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit, dl. 1 (1574–1610), Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën. Grote serie 20 (The Hague 1913), 47.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

323

was sufficiently recovered.47 A recently published letter from Nicolaus Oudaert, vicar of Jean Hauchin, Archbishop of Mechelen, to the Antwerp printer Christopher Plantin proves that friends and acquaintances in the Netherlands encouraged Lipsius in these plans by guaranteeing him a warm welcome and negotiating about an appointment at Leuven University. 48 Meanwhile, his friends left behind in Holland must have expressed their concern about his true intentions, for he explicitly reassured Leeuwius in the following way: Consilium viae meae non ignoras, cui valetudo caussa et finis. Homines aliud loquuntur? Garriunt; non me movent. Ego re virum bonum et fortem me ostendam et procul a me isti, qui virtutem et constantiam colunt verbis. Turbae nullae patriae a patria me excludent. Hoc excipio nisi vis animo infertur et delibatur interna illa libertas. Quod sane conatos scio quosdam; nescio an pie, scio quod imprudenter. Sed nec pie, quia verissimum illud Tertulliani censeo: ‘Religionis non esse religionem cogere’. You are not unaware of the intention of my travel: its reason and purpose is my health. People are saying something else? Let them talk; they do not bother me. My deeds will show that I am a good and courageous man, distinct from those who honour virtue and constancy in words only. No turmoil in my country will remove me from my country. The only exception I make is when pressure is put on my mind and my inward freedom is affected. I am well aware of the attempts of some people to do so; whether out of piety, I do not know, but I am sure it is inconsiderate. And actually it is not pious either, for I believe that Tertullian’s words are most fitting: ‘To enforce religion is not religious.’49

Movements of Dutch troops in Westphalia forced him to interrupt his journey in Oldenburg and Emden for a couple of weeks. To Dousa he confessed his doubts about spending the winter in Emden or returning to Leiden, asking for information about the situation in that city. On no account did he want to end up rashly in the middle of the

47 Cf. CP 8–9, Ep. 1155, 1167, 1174. CP refers to M. Rooses and J. Denucé, Correspondance de Chr. Plantin , 9 vols, (Antwerp 1883–1920); vol. 10: M. Van Durme, Supplément à la correspondance de Christophe Plantin (Antwerp 1955). 48 Cf. J. De Landtsheer, ‘”Die wereldvreemde proffen van Leuven in hun ivoren toren.” Een vergeten brief van Nicolaas Oudaert aan Christoffel Plantijn’, in De Gulden Passer 87 (2009), 34–52. 49 Cf. ILE 2, 86 10 07 LE, 5–12. Lipsius is quoting Tertullian, Ad Scapulam 2, 2.

324

jeanine de l and ts heer

ministers’ quarrels.50 No reactions are recorded, but in the middle of November Lipsius was back in Leiden. 51 It was probably during this journey that he conceived the idea of writing a treatise on statemanship, Politica sive civilis doctrinae libri sex (Leiden: F. Raphelengius, 1589), to form a kind of philosophical diptych with his De Constantia. Yet the writing was considerably slowed down by the fact that Prince Maurice appointed him Rector of the University in February 1587 and again in 1588, an appointment Lipsius was very reluctant to accept, according to Plantin. 52 Moreover, a short note from the Antwerp printer to Martinus Antonius Delrio, a friend from Lipsius’s student days who by then had joined the Jesuits, suggests that Lipsius must have opened his heart and mind to him. 53 Lipsius’s reluctance was well founded, for while the political situation in the Northern Provinces was far from stable after the unexpected death of Philip Sidney (at Arnhem on 17 October 1586 in a skirmish with the Spanish), troubles were arising in Leiden as well. On 24 April the University Board dismissed Hugo Donellus, a Professor of Law, after an inquiry directed by Curators Dousa and Buys, without giving specific arguments. Lipsius was only informed about this action after a few hours, with the warning that none of Donellus’s colleagues should 50 Cf. ILE 2, 86 10 15 D and 86 10 18. The text is preserved in a manuscript copy by Arnoldus Buchelius (Utrecht, UB, ms. 0B7, f. 6 and 6v-7 respectively), and was used for compiling the Iusti Lipsii Epistolarum (quae in centuriis non extant) decades XIIX (Harderwijk: Widow T. Henricus, on the expenses of W. Verbruggen, 1621), resp. XXI-XXII, no. III, 1 and XXII-XXIV, no. III, 2. I suspect that the second letter is, in fact, a reworked, more elegant version of the first, which is very matter-offact. The passage I paraphrased in the first version is: ‘Redimus illico? Festinat et ardet animus (quid ni ad tam amicos?), retinent et terrent ea quae non nescis. Dem me in compedes ministrorum? Consilium non est, nisi si quid refutatus ille fervor quem fervebant.’ In the second version this became: ‘Hiemem hic transigam an ad vos redeam non constitui et pendet sententia, donec de vestro statu rerum a vobis audiero. Veniamne temere iterum in Ministrorum turbellas? Da veniam, consilium non est.’ 51 The first, accurately dated letter from Leiden is ILE 2, 86 11 16. 52 Cf. CP 8–9, Ep. 1225 to Nicolas Oudaert, dated 18 March 1587: ‘[Accepi] auctorem [= Lipsium] praeterea se invito et frustra reluctante creatum esse huius anni Rectorem’ ([I heard that] the writer has been appointed Rector for this year, against his will and despite his objections). I corrected est to esse. 53 Cf. CP 8–9, Ep. 1331, dated 29 November 1587: ‘Inclusas tandem a Iusto Lipsio mihi nunc reddidit mercator [. . .] Is [= Lipsius] ad me scribit se tibi mentem suam aperire in illis et asserit se bona fide facturum quod tibi promittit.’ Unfortunately, Lipsius’s letter to Delrio is not preserved. See on Delrio De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk , 51–61.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

325

interfere. In a letter to Leeuwius, Lipsius discussed this matter in the following way: At apud nos hic turbae. Curatores et Consules Donellum missum fecerunt ‘certis de caussis’ (ita dixerunt), nec iis expressis. Rogas? Magni fluctus. Ego, Gubernator ille scilicet et anni huius Rector, imprimis involvor nec scio an tempestati sedandae. Suspicor (tibi habe) sermones hoc ei conciliasse et linguam parum cautam. But we have our own turmoil in Leiden. The Curators and Burgomasters have dismissed Donellus ‘for certain reasons’ (that is what they said), but without explaining them. Need you ask? Great upheaval everywhere. I, the Head of the University and this year’s Rector, am closely involved and I do not know if this is to still the waters. I suspect (keep this to yourself) that this is the consequence of his talking and his tongue, which he did not curb enough. 54

Some lines before in that same letter, Lipsius had declined to dwell upon the political situation for too long because his letters might be intercepted: Plura possem et vellem, sed reprimo, quia intutam eiusmodi rerum scriptionem esse didici exemplo. Non quia fidei tuae parum fidam (aeque ac meae), sed quia casus et litteris intervenire possunt et illis ad quos mittuntur. I could and would have written more, but I restrain myself, because I have learned from experience how unsafe this kind of writing is. Not because I do not completely trust your fidelity (which equals mine), but because misfortune can happen to both letters and the men to whom they were sent. 55

Lipsius, who was called to account by a number of the students and correspondents, worried that the matter might deepen the rift between the provinces. Despite official protests from Donellus and some pleas and pressure from Lipsius and from Leicester in person, the University Board took a firm stand and Donellus had to leave. The scholars’ feelings were hardly calmed, when Lipsius had to step into the breach for another colleague. Shortly after Leicester’s departure a group of his followers had tried to bring down the government of the city of Leiden,

54 Cf. ILE 2, 87 04 29 L, 23–27. According to some rumours, the discharge was seen as retaliation on the part of Buys, who had been kept in jail in Utrecht from 19 July 1586 to 24 January 1587, because of his anti-Leicesterian feelings. 55 Cf. ibid., 15–17. Next he explains how a letter to Philip Sidney, in which he had discussed Paul Buys’s situation rather freely ( ILE 2, 86 08 30), had fallen into the hands of less reliable people because of the untimely death of its addressee.

326

jeanine de l and ts heer

Fig. 19. Justus Lipsius, Letter to Theodorus Leeuwius (29 April 1587). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 3(1), f. 24

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

327

since it favoured a more independent course from England. The Protestant Professor of Divinity, Adrianus Saravia, who was known for his pro-English sympathies, was accused of complicity and discharged by the University Board. Lipsius must have expressed his doubts, as becomes clear from a letter of thanks from Saravia, in which he insisted on his innocence.56 Nevertheless, the theologian was expelled from the city in January 1588 and decided to settle in England. Despite his pedagogical and administrative duties Lipsius found the time to proceed with his Politica, a treatise occasionally referred to throughout the letters from 1587 onwards; the first copies were available in August 1589. 57 This important work—it was often re-issued in Latin and translated either as a whole or in epitome in a number of vernacular languages—was obviously influenced by the relentless political and religious conflicts in France and Germany he had heard and read about, or eye-witnessed in the Netherlands. Moreover, the chapters in book four, dealing with the relationship between Church and State, clearly mirror the religious attitude adopted by Lipsius during his Leiden years: he was utterly convinced of the principle cuius regio, illius religio, as developed in the Peace of Augsburg (1555). Citizens standing up for their deviant opinions on God and religion, and encouraging others to follow them were not to go unpunished, lest the prince be harmed because of them. If they paid no heed to warnings and slight punishments, the prince had every right to take firm measures, a piece of advice confirmed by quoting Cicero: ‘Ure, seca, ut membrorum potius aliquod quam totum corpus intereat’ (Burn, cut, in order that some member perishes rather than the whole body).58 Individuals, however, who lived quietly and kept their ideas to themselves should not be punished, nor sought out or thoroughly interrogated. Nevertheless, the chapters on religion and the quotation from Cicero in particular, provoked a fierce reaction from Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert, who claimed that Lipsius was defending the Spanish inqui-

Cf. ILE 2, 87 10 31. See the extensive introduction to the modern critical edition Justus Lipsius. Politica. Six Books of Politics or Political Instruction . Edited, with translation and introduction by Jan Waszink, Bibliotheca Latinitatis Novae 5 (Assen 2004). On Lipsius’s political ideas, also see my article, ‘On good Government: Erasmus’s Institutio principis Christiani versus Lipsius’s Politica’ in H. Trapman, J. van Herwaarden and A. van der Laan (eds), Erasmus Politicus: Erasmus and Political Thought, [forthcoming]. 58 Cicero, Philippica 8, 5, 15. 56 57

328

jeanine de l and ts heer

sition with its appalling practices of torture and sending people to the stake. He vented his protests in his Proces vant Ketterdoden ende dwang der Conscientien (Gouda: Gaspar Tournay, 1590); the fact that his criticism was written in the vernacular meant that it would reach a larger audience.59 Although the Burgomasters and Council of Leiden distanced themselves from Coornhert’s work and renounced its dedication on 18 October 1590, this polemic certainly confirmed Lipsius in his belief that it was time to leave Leiden and that now that the political situation was stabilized in the South, life would be much more calm and peaceful there than in the North, with a political system he did not trust and the announcement of religious conflict.60 To conclude this part about Lipsius’s Leiden years, a word must be said about religious matters. Despite good contacts with his, mostly Calvinist, friends and colleagues, there are no indications that Lipsius ever took Holy Communion with them, as is clearly attested by the aforementioned Adrianus Saravia. About twenty years after his departure from Leiden, he fondly recalled Lipsius in a letter to Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury: Doctrinam evangelicam numquam professus est [Lipsius]; illi tamen aperte, quod sciam, quamdiu nobiscum vixit, numquam adversatus est. In controversiis, quas nebulones illic moverant, meliori parti favere et assentiri, pacem et concordiam amare et odisse seditiosos nobis videbatur. [Lipsius] has never professed the Protestant faith; yet, as far as I know, he never openly opposed it during the years he was living in our midst. In the controversies some paltry people had provoked there, he always seemed to support and approve the better part, to love peace and concord, and to loath troublemongers. 61

In the same letter Saravia nevertheless supposed that Lipsius must have been involved with the House of Love, since he had seen him walk59 Lipsius would sharpen his quill as well and refuted Coornhert’s reproaches in his Adversus dialogistam sive de una religione, dedicated to the States of Holland and published that same year by Raphelengius in Leiden, only a few weeks before Coornhert’s death. On Coornhert, cf. De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk , 173–182. 60 Cf. F. de Nave, De polemiek tussen Justus Lipsius en Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert (1590): hoofdoorzaak van Lipsius’ vertrek uit Leiden (1591) , in De Gulden Passer 48 (1970), 1–36. De Nave, however, is pointing too exclusively in Coornhert’s direction, without taking into account the changes in the political and religious climate of the North during the second half of the 1580s. 61 Cf. Saravia to Bancroft, dated 20 October 1608, London, BL, Add. 28.571, f. 214–218 and published by H. Van Crombruggen, ‘Een brief van Adriaan Saravia over Lipsius en “het Huis der Liefde”’, in De Gulden Passer 28 (1950), 110–117.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

329

ing and conversing with its leader, Hendrik Jansen Barrefelt, alias Hiël. Saravia’s presumption seems, however, rather far-fetched, for there is no hint whatsoever in the whole of the correpondence that might suggest membership. Quite the reverse: Barrefelt only comes up in three letters from 1584, in which Lipsius urges his correspondent, Leeuwius, to return a copy of Barrefelt’s Het Boek der Ghetuygenissen vanden verborgen Acker-Schat (Antwerp: C. Plantin, 1581). 62 He must have browsed through it himself, for on two occasions he refers to it in a condescending way: ‘Puto certe tanti tibi non esse, ut eum magnopere retentum velis’ (I do not believe that you are so keen on it that you really want to keep it) and ‘Quid enim hic magnum aut serium?’ (Is there anything important or serious in this book?). This is definitely confirmation that an occasional stroll through Leiden in the company of Barrefelt does not imply that Lipsius was an adept of the House of Love. On the other hand, as a Catholic who went to live for professional reasons in a Protestant area for some time, Lipsius immediately became a black sheep in the eyes of rigorous Catholics, despite the fact that some of Lipsius’s friends kept stressing that he never renounced the true Faith, but remained discreet in matters of worship and belief in order to avoid possibly offending his hosts. One of the most interesting and no-nonsense examples of how some influential Catholics kept defending Lipsius against accusations that he was no longer ‘of the true faith’ is found in a letter the Spanish theologian and royal chaplain Benito Arias Montano 63 wrote to congratulate his friend Christopher Plantin on his safe return from Leiden to Antwerp: Haec [nonnulla Epistolarum centuriae primae folia] mihi gratissima, ut Lypsii scripta omnia, et Lypsius ipse, cuius et virtutem et pietatem ego nunquam in dubium vocari passus sum, ubicumque fuerim. Sed scis qualia omnium iudicia sint, hominum dico, qui nulli alii integram laudem tribui vellent, quam sibi ipsis, qua tamen vel hoc ipso invidentiae vitio sunt indignissimi. Vix quicquam de cuiuspiam viri eruditione v el ingenio, vel industria praedicari occipitur, quin sit aliquis vel neget illum illo loco recte de religione sentire, vel cum modestissime agere videatur, hoc modo non dubitet: ‘Fierine potest ut ille catholicus sit qui illic vivat?’ Quos tamen ita redarguere soleo, silentioque involvere: ‘Tu ergo si qua

62 Cf. ILE 2, 84 04 28; 84 05 16 and 84 06 11. The quotations are taken from the first (l. 5–6) and third letters (l. 3). By combining the information found in the three letters it becomes clear that Lipsius had borrowed a copy via Plantin on Leeuwius’s request. The latter had passed it to a friend of his, a physician. 63 On Arias Montano, cf. De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk , 525–540.

330

jeanine de l and ts heer sorte vel ratione illuc migrare cogereris, catholicus non viveres, religionem quam primum abiurares, quam nunc, quia hoc loco es, colere te putas firmissime? Quasi vero religio locum sequatur et non animo infixa haereat.’ [. . .] Ad Lypsium nostrum redeo, quem unum ex clarissimis bonarum disciplinarum nostro tempore hominibus semper iudicavi et iudico, et hoc nomine ubique celebrare et commendare soleo cum attestatione summae erga pietatem integritatis, vel hoc documento unico, eoque maximo, quod is tibi semper et gratissimus et familiarissimus fuerit, qui catholicum ab haeretico, ut isti loquuntur, secernere nosti. These [few quires of the first Centuria of letters] have pleased me very much, as goes for all of Lipsius’s writings, and for Lipsius himself, and I have never permitted that an inkling of doubt be shed on his virtue and piety, wherever I was. But you know what the judgement of most people is, I mean of those who do not want to speak a word of sincere praise to anyone but themselves, praise they do not merit at all because of this vice of envy. Hardly has anyone uttered a word about the learnedness or the talents of a man, or about his zeal, that someone comes up with some serious doubts about the other’s orthodoxy based on the place where he is living, and even when he seems to be living in a very modest way, the backbiter does not hesitate to question: ‘Could it be true that a man who is living in such a place is a Catholic?’ I usually give them tit for tat and squelch them by asking: ‘So, if by some hazard or choice you would be forced to move out there, you would not live there as a Catholic, you would as soon as possible renounce the religion, which you think you profess most firmly as you are living in this place? As if religion were linked to places, instead of being firmly imprinted in the mind.’ [. . .] I return to our friend Lipsius, whom I have always considered and still consider one of the most illustrious scholars of the bonae literae of our time. Because of that opinion I always praise and recommend him everywhere, asserting his total integrity in matters of faith, even with this only proof, and especially with this proof, that he has always been a very dear and very close friend to you, who know how to distinguish a Catholic from a heretic, as they say. 64

A Farewell to Leiden

65

Lipsius’s first attempt to leave Leiden had made it clear to him how important it was to plan well in advance and to observe an almost absolute secrecy about his intentions, even towards his friends in the

Cf. CP 7, Ep. 1071, dated 1 February 1586 (esp. p. 265–266). About Lipsius’s journey and his sojourn in Liège, see more extensively Lieveling van de Latijnse taal , 99–137. The correspondence from this period will be published as ILE [4,] 91 03 18—5, [92 08 begin]. 64 65

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

331

South.66 Moreover, he did not want to burn his boats in Leiden either, unless he was sure about his welcome in the Catholic Low Countries, even after a thirteen-year stay in a bulwark of Protestant and antiSpanish policy. Johannes Moretus, who had succeeded his father-inlaw, Christopher Plantin, in Antwerp, was probably the only one who was taken into his confidence, as becomes clear from a letter dated 13 January 1591, which also shows that Lipsius had been planning his departure for a few months already. Lipsius opens with ‘Scripsi iam bis de commeatu impetrando pro amico’ (I have written to you twice already about a letter of safe-conduct for a friend), before switching to the first person: Si nondum perfecta res sit, potest tuto omitti; si facta, bene est. Non quia consilium mutarim de profectione, sed ut libere tecum agam, quia tunc deliberabam an non occulte iter facturus essem per Campiniam vestram in Leodiensem agrum et ad fontes. Nunc certum mihi est in Germaniam recta ire atque ita minus egere videor commeatu, non quidem tam cito. Si tamen, ut dixi, res iam perfecta est, gratum id habeo et ratum transmitte. Erit usui, sed magis si uxoris quoque mentio facta esset. Nam illa videtur anhelare ut semel excurrat ad amicos, sed fortasse non tam cito. If this matter has not yet been arranged, you can forget about it; otherwise, it is alright. Not that I have changed my plans to leave, but to tell you honestly, I was earlier pondering whether to travel surreptitiously through the Kempen area towards the principality of Liège and the waters of Spa. Now, however, I have decided to go directly to Germany, hence such a safe-conduct will be less needed, or at least not so soon. But if, as I said before, the matter is already arranged, I am grateful and you must send me the bill. The safe-conduct will be useful, especially if my wife’s name were mentioned as well. For she seems to be panting to come and see her friends, albeit perhaps not so quickly. 67

Once again, his delicate health was a welcome, albeit not entirely fictitious, excuse to get away. About the same time as he wrote to Moretus,

66 One year after his return to Leiden he apparently reproached a number of friends, Plantin among them, that their lack of discretion about his plans had been the main cause of his re-appointment as Rector in 1587, cf. CP 8–9, Ep. 1324 dated 20 november [1587]: ‘[ . . . ] litteras in quibus conqueritur amicos nimium praeproperos fuisse istic in disseminando eius voluntatem et cetera de suo reditu, hinc primam fuisse occasionem illum alligandi rectoratui.’ 67 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 01 13 M. The previous letters asking for a safe-conduct are not preserved.

332

jeanine de l and ts heer

he also informed Cornelis Aerssens, secretary to the States General, who had to approve his request for a safe-conduct to Germany: Mihi decretum est valetudinis caussa in Germaniam proficisci (nam alia loca clausa) proximo vere. Hoc consilium celare te non debui, veterem et fidum amicum. Sed profectio illa tamen temporaria est et dumtaxat ut imbecillum hoc corpusculum paullum sive aeris mutatione, sive fontium potu, sive ipsa motione et itinere firmem. Nam profecto vires magis magisque in dies mihi collabuntur et deficiunt. For considerations of health I have decided to go to Germany next spring (for I cannot go anywhere else). I must not keep my plans secret from you, an old and dear friend. But my absence will be temporary and has only this one purpose: to give this feeble body of mine some strength again either by a change of air, or by taking the waters, or by the motion of travelling itself. For truly, my physical strength is getting weaker by the day and is leaving me. 68

When Lipsius’s plan became known, friends and colleagues in Leiden, as well as the members of the States of Holland, had a feeling of déjà vu. Following a suggestion by Franciscus Raphelengius, the States of Holland sent Leonard Voocht, Pensionary of Delft, to assure the humanist that the authorities did not agree with Coornhert’s criticism: they had even officially forbidden the Proces vant ketterdoden on 31 January 1591. On 10 February the University Board tried to have him reconsider his decision by raising his salary by 200 florins, which made him the best paid among his colleagues. 69 Yet Lipsius did not give in, although he solemnly promised to Voocht, as the representative of the States of Holland, and in the presence of Dousa and Van Hout that he would return to Leiden. On 26 February he obtained leave to spend some three or four months in a spa somewhere in Germany to recover his health. A sharp frost kept Lipsius in the city for a few more weeks. Afraid to miss his ship in Amsterdam (the plan was to go by ship to Hamburg and hence by coach and horse towards Frankfurt), he even pondered about an alternative route over land, cautiously mentioning to his friends in Holland a possible route via Liège to Aix-la-Chapelle:

68 69

Cf. ILE [4,] 91 01 21 and 91 01 26 A. Cf. Molhuysen, Bronnen, 1, 59; Witkam, Dagelijkse zaken, 4, 190.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

333

Quid igitur suades? Dic, quaeso, libere! An non possem terrestri via Leodium et inde Aquisgranum pervenire? Eo magis illuc inclinarem, quia valetudinem meam video et metuo ut tam longae et difficili viae resistat. So what do you suggest? I beg you, tell me freely! Could I not go by land to Liège and hence to Aix-la-Chapelle? I would feel the more inclined to choose that route when I consider my health. I am afraid that it is not up to such a long and arduous sojourn.

Finally, on 15 March, he left Leiden in the company of a small group of students, who wanted to continue their studies abroad. One, Adam Leemput from Utrecht, remained with Lipsius until the middle of October and acted as his secretary. He jotted down an almost day to day account of Lipsius’s route through Germany, although mostly only dates and places were recorded. 70 Moreover, once Lipsius had arrived at his destination, Leemput also took care to copy most of his mentor’s letters before they were sent. 71 Only a small part of them was later published in the Centuriae; a careful analysis shows clearly how cautious Lipsius was in selecting the information he sent to his correspondents. After having spent a few days in Frankfurt, where he met a number of acquaintances at the book-fair and bade farewell to most of the accompanying students, he continued his travels to Mainz. On 14 April 1591, shortly before noon, he knocked at the door of the Jesuit College, asking to confess and become reconciled with the Catholic Church. He stayed in Mainz for about ten days, time and again visiting the Jesuits; at the same time, he informed two friends about his decision. The first was one of his former teachers in Cologne, Franciscus Costerus, by then living in the Southern Netherlands, the second a companion from his student’s days, Martinus Antonius Delrio, who had entered the order and was living in the Jesuit College in Liège. In both cases he urged his friends to secrecy, since his wife and his possessions were still in Leiden. Delrio was only allowed to pass the news on to Johannes Oranus, another

70 This document, an in-folio leaf folded in half, is preserved in Leiden, UB, ms. Lips. 56 (5). For its edition and analysis, see J. De Landtsheer, ‘From North to South. Some New Documents on Lipsius’ Journey from Leiden to Liège’, in D. Sacré and G. Tournoy (eds), Myricae. Essays on Neo-Latin Studies in Memory of Jozef IJsewijn , Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 16 (Leuven 2000), 303–331. 71 They are systematically gathered in more or less chronological order in what is now Leiden, UB, ms. Lips. 3(9), 3(11) and part of 3(10). Once he had left Liège, Lipsius set out to copy his out-going letters himself, until he was firmly settled in Leuven.

334

jeanine de l and ts heer

Jesuit from Lipsius’s Cologne days and also living at the Liège College.72 One week later Lipsius also contacted Francesco Benci, a friend whom he had met during a sojourn in Rome from the late summer of 1568 to early April 1570 and who had become a Jesuit shortly afterwards. On the same day Lipsius told botanist Carolus Clusius that he would go to Spa, since the inns in Germany were killing him and he asked him to forward his mail. 73 Once he had settled in Cologne, he also wrote to his closest friends in Holland that he had left Frankfurt and was on his way to Spa, without adding another reason for this change of plans other than the appaling state of the accommodation. 74 To Johannes Moretus, however, he was more sincere, since the Antwerp printer had to take care of his luggage. Nevertheless, he too was asked to keep silent about the decision because Lipsius’s wife and possessions were still in the North. Mihi decretum est in finibus Belgii paullisper haerere, in otio et solitudine agere et videre si non exitum, saltem inclinationem bellorum istorum. Cur ultra sim in partibus? Praesertim cum animus meus (nec tu ignoras) partibus aut factionibus numquam fuerit addictus. Magis sapimus. Plura de consilio meo alias, quod cupio celari a te, quia divulgari parum adhuc tutum. Uxor et res meae sunt apud Batavos, uti non ignoras. [ . . . ] Ad amicos certa de caussa nondum scribo: rogo tamen uti D[ominum] Ortelium a me salutes itemque uxorem tuam, socrum et familiam universam. Brevi, ut dixi, plura et tum quoque ad amicos. I have decided to stay a little while in the neighbourhood of the Southern Low Countries, to spend my time in leisure and solitude, and see, if not the end of those wars, at least the inclination to bring them to an end. Why would I adhere any longer to a faction? Especially while it has never been in my character (a fact you are well aware of) to side with this or that faction or camp. I am wiser than that! Next time more about

72 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 04 14 C and D (since Delrio’s answer was delayed, Lipsius repeated his plea for support and advice in ILE [4,] 91 05 03). An undated fragment addressed to Ludovicus Thuardus, Rector of the college in Cologne, might also be situated around this period (it is listed as 91 00 00 T in A. Gerlo and H.D.L. Vervliet, Inventaire de la correspondance de Juste Lipse, 1564–1606 (Antwerp 1968), but will be published as ILE [4,][04 2de helft]). Two letters dated on 14 April one addressed to the Italian physician Hieronymus Mercurialis and another to a German Catholic, Marcus Welser, still bear the Frankfurt address ( ILE [4,] 91 04 14 M and W). It is impossible to find out whether they were indeed written just before Lipsius left Frankfurt, or whether he consciously preferred to suppress his whereabouts for a few more days. 73 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 04 21 B and L (the latter repeated in ILE [4,] 91 05 07 L). 74 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 04 26 A to Cornelis Aerssens, D (a few lines only, addressed to both Janus Dousa and Jan van Hout) and R to Franciscus Raphelengius, the Elder.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

335

my plans, which I want you to keep secret for a while, for it is not yet safe to disclose it everywhere. My wife and possessions are still in Holland, as you know. [ . . . ] I have my reasons not to write to my friends yet; nevertheless I ask you to give my regards to Ortelius and your wife, your mother-in-law, and the whole circle of friends. I will write more shortly, as already said, and then to our friends too. 75

His Dutch friends quickly answered the letters sent from Cologne, keeping him informed about what was happening in Leiden, regretting the fact that his health had not yet improved, showing concern about the hazards of his journey, but most of all expressing how much the University, both his colleagues and his students, were missing him. Yet the letter of Dousa, Sr in particular also hinted at their doubts about his intention, reminding Lipsius of his promise to Van Hout and himself, before concluding with the urgent request to return as soon as his health allowed it. 76 Lipsius, meanwhile, continued his travels and kept writing to the Jesuits in Liège, who promised their support: their Rector had taken care of Lipsius’s letter to his wife and Johannes Oranus was awaiting him in Spa. Delrio insisted on discretion, for the ways were unsafe and letters might easily fall into the wrong hands. It was even better not to write to his friends in Brabant, unless it was absolutely necessary to do so.77 The wariness was not without cause, for by the end of the month Lipsius had already received two letters from Dominicus Lampsonius, the secretary of the Prince-Bishop of Liège,78 referring to his sojourn in Cologne and the fact that he was expecting him in Spa. Lipsius’s next letter to Delrio shows clearly how he underestimated the importance his hosts in Holland attached to his pledge, whereas he himself was rather unconcerned about it: A Batavis etiam ipsis cur aut quid metuam? Amant me et aegre carent, fateor, sed nos devincti nemini mortalium fuimus in unam horam. Innoxius et liber ego ab omni promissionis vinclo. Itaque honeste et primo tempore missionem petam, constet modo mihi de translatione rerum mearum, quas nolim equidem amissas. Et tamen ita sit, perierint. Quid tum? Ego et optima illa pars mei salva. 75 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 04 28 MO. Moretus’s many business contacts with printers and booksellers in Cologne made it easy to address possible letters for Lipsius to the Jesuits, who could in turn forward them without much ado to their colleagues in Liège. 76 Cf. ILE [4,] [91] 05 17. 77 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 05 24 D. 78 On Dominicus Lampsonius, cf. De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606), 226–236.

336

jeanine de l and ts heer Why should I be wary of the Dutch, or what should I fear from them? They love me and they will be reluctant to do without me, I confess, but we have had no obligations to one single soul for one single hour. I cannot be blamed and I am free of the tie of any promise. Hence I will honestly and at the first opportunity ask for discharge, if only I am reassured about the the moving of my possessions, which surely I would prefer not to lose. And even if it would happen, let them be lost. So what? I myself and what is the better part of me will be safe. 79

In the first days of June, after he had recovered from the long and exhausting journey in Spa and was becoming assured about his welcome in the South, Lipsius informed his friends and colleagues in the North about his irrevocable decision. Besides a twofold, official request for honourable discharge to the University Board and its Council (i.e., the professors and their Rector, Thomas Sosius) he also wrote a series of private letters, pointing out that after having given the best of himself to the university and its students for thirteen years, his faltering health was impelling him to pass the torch to others. 80 The spa waters had not brought him the relief he had hoped for; he no longer had the energy to cope with the exigencies of academic life, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life in tranquillity, without any official assignment.81 Time and again he asserted his gratitude for the hospitality and the benevolence which had surrounded him all these years, and assured them that his decision had been prompted by personal reasons, on which he did not expound. He apologized in particular to Dousa and Van Hout, who had been present when he pledged himself to the representatives of the States of Holland, for causing them grief and admitted that he had taken his decision consciously and some time previously, but had kept his plans silent to prevent any attempts to lure him back. The circumstances had given him sound reasons to settle elsewhere than in Holland and to renounce his teaching obligations, which demanded so much of his physical strength. Although Lipsius’s first attempt to leave in the autumn of 1586 and the doubts which had risen when he mentioned his intention to resume this journey should have prepared his colleagues, they were ILE [4,] 91 05 27 D. ILE [4,] 91 06 02 L 1+2; three days later he repeated his request along the same lines in a separate letter to the Burgomasters, ILE [4,] 91 06 05. 81 Thus Lipsius was interpreting the formula of his promise, to return after his health was restored, in a very literal way: since it was only slightly improving, without much hope for total recovery, he felt no qualms about staying away. 79 80

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

337

nonetheless deeply affected when his letters arrived. Both officially and privately they refused to accept his departure and tried to make him change his mind. His departure would lead to the fall and ruin of the university—they even called him its principal support, next to God (‘daer van wy u, naest God, houden ende bekennen tvoorneemste steunsel’). Once again, he was strongly reminded of his promises, not only towards his colleagues in Leiden, but towards the States of Holland, to return once he had sufficiently recovered. Meanwhile, they agreed to send his wife to help him through his illness; upon his return they would find a solution which would be opportune to the country, university, and students, yet favourable to Lipsius’s health as well.82 Dousa the Elder in particular reacted bitterly with a letter full of theatrical effects, reproaching Lipsius that he had stabbed him through the heart and had delivered the final blow to the University. Hence his hasty departure, without being wary of wintry weather and a heavy sea, although everyone, except for one troublemaker, wanted to stop him! How did his Leiden colleagues deserve that? Did Coornhert mean so much to him? He found it hard to believe that Lipsius had left for considerations of health, yet he could accept that he was wishing to do so, since Lipsius had already made it clear that he no longer felt at home in Holland. But why the secrecy? Why not confide in him or in Van Hout? And why had he simply to deceive the States of Holland by pledging to return after some three, four months, although he was fully aware that he never would? How unlike that courteous man, as he was known to everybody in Leiden! Only in the closing sentence did Dousa cool off somewhat, promising to send a longer letter when he was in control of himself again, for at the present time he was overwhelmed by distress at Lipsius’s departure. 83 Although he wanted to create the impression that he wrote his letter on the spur of the moment, Dousa was not that upset that he forgot to add a few quotes. 84 To boot, the references to a wintry weather and a stormy sea, together with the complaints about the unrightfulness and stealth of Lipsius’s decision—the whole carefully packed with figures of speech—must surely have reminded the skilled humanist that

Cf. ILE [4,] 91 07 02 L 1 and L 2 resp. Cf. ILE [4,] [91] 07 03. 84 Sc. Erasmus, Adagia, 1, 3, 30; Persius 3, 105; Ennius apud Cicero, Laelius 6, 22; Tibullus 4, 13, 8, and Plautus, Stich. 1, 2, 82. 82 83

338

jeanine de l and ts heer

Lipsius was of Queen Dido’s famous harangue against Aeneas, when she became aware of his preparations to leave Carthage. 85 Lipsius, however, did not yield to their protests, but firmly repeated that his decision was made in a brief official letter to the University Board and the Burgomasters from Leiden, and somewhat more extensively in letters to his friends, encouraging them to continue their friendship through correspondence. 86 Pending a final decision by the States of Holland, the authorities in Leiden allowed Lipsius’s wife, Anna vanden Calstere, to join her husband provided that both should return to Leiden once he had sufficiently regained his strength.87 One week later the States finally reconciled itself to the facts and granted Lipsius an honourable discharge from his office. It soon became clear that Leiden University would keep thriving, even when Lipsius was no longer there. Moreover, the fact that the great Josephus Justus Scaliger seemed willing to come to Leiden and fill the vacancy soon made them overcome their frustration and grief about Lipsius’s departure. 88 Only in 1604, after Lipsius had published his Diva Virgo Hallensis, the discussions about his inconstancy in matters of faith flared up again. Liège as a temporary home base Around the same time that Lipsius informed his colleagues in Leiden of his plans, he also announced his return to friends and men of influence in the South. He especially wrote to his contacts in the States of Brabant, in the hope that they would speak up for him and facilitate his reconciliation with the authorities in the Spanish Netherlands. Despite his long sojourn in the North, he had always been a good Catholic and a faithful subject of King Philip II; he was longing to return to his home country, to lecture in Leuven, and enjoy the pro-

Cf. Vergil, Aeneis 4, 305–330. Cf. ILE [4,] 91 07 12 to the Board and a number of letters written to Janus Dousa father and son, Jan Van Hout and Franciscus Raphelengius the Younger the day before. In his answer to Dousa the Elder, ILE [4,] 91 07 11 D 1, Lipsius asserted that his departure had not been influenced by Coornhert. 87 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 08 24. 88 Around the middle of September Franciscus Raphelengius Sr informed Lipsius about the upcoming negotiations; his letter is not preserved, but Lipsius immediately congratulated his colleagues with their choice, yet not without expressing some doubts as well. Despite Lipsius’s misgivings Scaliger arrived in Leiden on 26 August 1593 and stay there until his death on 21 January 1609. 85 86

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

339

ceeds from his estates. As had been the case in the letters to his friends in Leiden, he time and again stressed the courtesy and benevolence he had always met in the North, and that his decision was due entirely to personal reasons, but now usually with a more explicit reference to his conscience or his faith. In the course of June 1591 Lipsius also carried on a busy correspondence with a number of acquaintances in Liège, Jesuits—especially his fellow students Johannes Oranus and Martinus Antonius Delrio—or an increasing number of humanists, Dominicus Lampsonius, Johannes Oranus’s brother Petrus, and Jacques de Carondelet, all of them intimi of Ernest of Bavaria, the Prince Bishop of Liège. 89 These close contacts induced him to find accommodation in Liège from July onwards, to study quietly until his patrons in Brabant had reached an agreement about a safe return and possibly also about a chair at Leuven University. One of the first requisites for reconciliation with the authorities in the South, which would also allow him to take possession of his estates again, was taken care of by the Jesuits of Liège. On 9 July Rector Johannes a Campis wrote him a certificate of orthodoxy: Lipsius had, indeed, lectured at Leiden University for some years and had published a number of books in the city, but he had never become involved in military matters or politics. He had always been a loyal Catholic without ever attending dissident worship or propagating Catholic ideas and his only fault consisted of having lived amidst rebels and heretics. A previous attempt to break away had failed, but now, using a visit to the Frankfurt book fair and his poor health as a pretext, he had left the North. After a long journey full of hazards he had reconciled with the Church of Rome again and confessed his sins, as a number of Jesuits in Mainz, Cologne, Trier, and finally also in Liège were willing to testify. Hence Lipsius deserved to be accepted in their midst with due respect and benevolence, in particular since he could still make himself useful for the true faith. 90 His aforementioned confrater, Johannes Oranus, defended the humanist along similar lines in a letter dated 7 July to a prominent politician of the South (probably Charles Philip of Croÿ, Marquis of Havré and president of the Council 89 On Ernest of Bavaria and his role as protector of Roman Catholicism in northwestern Germany, cf. Neue deutsche Biographie (Berlin 1953- ) 4, 614–615; J. De Landtsheer, ‘Laevinus Torrentius, vicaris van het bisdom Luik, en de pauselijke nuntiatuur’, in Trajecta 4 (1995), 300–315. 90 The document is published in appendix to ILE [4,] 91 05 07 C.

340

jeanine de l and ts heer

of Finance).91 Delrio advised Lipsius to check his works carefully and correct, remove, or elucidate passages that might raise questions in Catholic circles. He probably proposed to assist him with this task, 92 Soon since the scholar thanked him for sending a list of remarks. after his arrival Lipsius joined the Confraternity of the Holy Virgin; 93 the oration he held for its members in the middle of September stirred commotion in the North,94 where the rumour was circulated that he had referred to his former homeland with scorn and scathing criticism. 95 Lipsius truly enjoyed the tranquillity of Liège and eagerly kept up a lively correspondence with friends and acquaintances in both the North and the South. Yet when his return to Brabant seemed to be at a standstill in the spring of 1592, he contacted Nicolaas Oudaert, the vicar of the archbishopric of Mechelen, pointing out that in the meantime he had received honourable invitations from abroad, which he had temporarily declined since he preferred to live in his home-country, a none too subtle hint that it was about time to make headway. Delrio urged Leonardus Lessius, a brother at the Leuven College, to discuss Lipsius’s interests with Henricus Cuyckius, vice-chancellor of Leuven University.96 In the course of June Oudaert, with the support of other patrons of Lipsius, addressed an urgent appeal to the States of Brabant. It was finally agreed that the scholar should be given a chair at the University of Leuven. 97

Cf. ILE [4,] 91 07 07, appendix. Cf. ILE [4,] 91 07 07. 93 Wherever the Jesuits established a college they organised a confraternity of St Mary, consisting of a group of lay people, usually from the higher bourgeoisie and the secular clergy, whose duty was to encourage personal devotion by praying and frequent use of sacraments. The members were also expected to perform pious works, propagate the faith among the commoners, and correct apostates. See, for instance for Antwerp, A.K.L. Thijs, ‘De Contrareformatie en het economisch transformatieproces te Antwerpen na 1585’, in Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis 70 (1987), 97–124 (esp. 107–108). 94 Cf. ILE [4,] [ca. 91 08 30]; 91 09 [27]. 95 Cf. ILE [4,] 91 11 18; 5, 92 02 01; 92 09 00. Despite suggestions to publish his text, Lipsius never did so. Three years later the question was still being raised, cf. ILE 7, 94 03 15, 28–33. Nevertheless, I do not believe that Lipsius lashed out at the North, since he always stressed the good contacts he had with its inhabitants. 96 Cf. a short letter from Delrio to Lessius written only a few weeks before Lipsius’s farewell from Liège in J. Machielsen and J. De Landtsheer, ‘Recommending Justus Lipsius: A letter from Martinus Antonius Delrio to Leonardus Lessius’, in Lias 34 (2007), 272–282. 97 Cf. ILE 5, 92 06 23 O; apparently Oudaert added a copy of his petition, but it is not preserved. 91 92

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus Return to Leuven

341

98

Lipsius returned to Leuven on 9 August 1592. Except for a few short journeys to Spa and Tournai and an occasional visit to Brussels or Antwerp, he would never leave the city again. In a short letter Melchior Moretus informed Abraham Ortelius about the warm welcome that awaited the scholar upon his arrival, also adding that Lipsius, after reading the appropriate formula, had been accepted as a member of the Sodality of the Holy Virgin of the Leuven Jesuits immediately after the Feast of the Assumption (15 August). 99 On 12 September he was appointed to the chair of Ancient History, and on 24 November he also became Professor of Latin. Just before his friend left Liège, Delrio had pointed out the necessity of contacting Cuyckius once again to urge him to have the theologians, who had a copy of the index of forbidden books published by Plantin, inspect his library in case it contained some unsuitable books. 100 Delrio was obviously right with his caution, for numerous small details in the letters of Lipsius’s first years in Leuven suggest, indeed, that a number of his correspondents could not understand how he had been able to live for such a long period among heretics and were even convinced that he must have been corrupted in one way or another. Apparently, Lipsius was often regarded with a certain mistrust and had to make sure that he kept strictly to what was expected of a pious Catholic. By way of captatio benevolentiae, he postponed his plans to publish a large selection of ancient historiographers with annotations, the Fax historica, and focused instead on a treatise about crucifixion as a punishment in Antiquity. The subject was adroitly chosen, for as its title, De Cruce libri tres, was easily associated with the symbol of Christian salvation, it was generally assumed that Lipsius had written a pious treatise on the passion of the Lord as evidence of his devotion to the true Faith. In fact, he had no theological pretentions whatsoever and steered safely 98 On Lipsius in Leuven, see more extensively Lieveling van de Latijnse taal, 138–200. The letters from this period will be published as ILE 5, 92 08 13 G—[19,] 06 04 18. 99 Cf. J.H. Hessels, Abraham Ortelii et virorum eruditorum ad eundem et ad Jacobum Colium Ortelianum epistulae, Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae Archivum 1 (Cambridge 1887 [= Osnabrück, 1969; Torhout 1988]), Ep. 219. 100 Cf ILE 5, [92] 07/08 00, 22–25: ‘Necesse erit cum Lovanium veneris, D[omi]num Vicarium adeas et postules visitent bibliothecam, numquid in ea quod corrigendum. Habent enim quendam Indicem, olim a Plantino excusum, ad quem libros nonnullos recensent.’

342

jeanine de l and ts heer

and prudently away from any controversial issue among theologians, as he time and again strongly asserted in his covering letters. He solely intended his treatise to be a continuation of the series of antiquarian works he had written from the 1580s onwards, hence its subtitle Ad sacram profanamque historiam utiles (Useful for history both sacred and wordly). Obviously, the manuscript was ready for the press by November 1592, since the dedicatory letter is dated 4 November 1592, whereas Cuyckius, as book censor of Leuven, dated his approbatio 20 November. Undoubtedly Moretus would have had the book available at the Frankfurt spring book fair had Lipsius not kept equivocating (one of the excuses was that he wanted illustrations being added). Probably the continuous suspicion and criticism he had to cope with made him apprehensive of publishing on a theme that might easily become the subject of controversy. 101 It was the first treatise he published after his return to the Southern Low Countries and it was appropriately dedicated to the members of the States of Brabant as a token of thanks for their willingness to accept him and grant him a position at the University. 102 Without a doubt, his caution was reinforced when shortly after New Year 1593 friends in Rome warned him that his Politica risked being placed on the new index of forbidden books. 103 Lipsius wrote a frantic reaction to his Jesuit friend in Rome, Francesco Benci: 104 Cogitare per te potes grave id nobis esse, qui tot improborum et acres inimicitias suscepimus ut bonis nos redderemus, a quibus non nisi corpore fuimus avulsi. Haec praemia mihi apud ipsos bonos? Atquin impia in iis libris, et damnanda. Si palam talia, non recuso; et si tamen sunt, testor

101 In the course of 1593 some correspondents, whom he had consulted about his treatise, sent him further information: quotations, philological details, or information about the practice itself, material that was partly incorporated in a quire of Notae. De Cruce was available by the end of January 1594, cf. its first covering letters ILE 7, 94 01 30 L to Johannes Livineius and 94 01 30 T to Laevinus Torrentius. 102 Antwerp: Widow Plantin and J. Moretus, 1593–1594. See my analysis in ‘Justus Lipsius’s De Cruce and the Reception of the Fathers’, Neulateinisches Jahrbuch 2 (2000), 97–122. 103 This matter is extensively discussed in Waszink, Justus Lipsius. Politica , 173– 190, who also compared the 1589 and the 1596 version. On the index proposed by Pope Sixtus V, which was to be revised in the coming years before it was finally published in 1596, the Politica had been marked donec corrigatur, hence not all hope was lost. Cf. F.H. Reusch, Der Index der Verbotenen Bücher. Ein Beitrag zur Kirchen- und Literaturgeschichte, 2 vols (Bonn, 1883–1885), 501–538. 104 On Francesco Benci, cf. De Landtsheer, Sacré, and Coppens, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk , 471–478.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

343

supremum numen inscio atque invito me esse. Hoc fateor, esse quaedam sive pro temporibus, sive pro locis scripta in quibus fuimus, minus liquide ac clare. Parati ergo sumus (imo hoc iam agimus) deputare, diducere et in oculis auribusque omnium defigere nos esse qui sumus, id est Catholicos et supremo Ecclesiae capiti, Romano Pontifici, adhaerentes. [ . . . ] Ad summam, peto ut, qua potes, me iuves, et aut impedias, aut differas ne quid in famam meam tam insigniter committatur. Si tamen fiet, feram conscientiae meae securus et firmus nihilo minus in veritate et via, quam institi et quam in animo semper agnovi. Nulla res me labefaciet per Dei quidem opem, quam imploro et ut tu pro me, mi frater, rogo. Deus bone, quam undique quatior valetudine, calumniis, infamia! You can make out for yourself how hard this is for me, I who have endured all that bitter enmity of malevolent men, to return to the true Catholics, from whom I was but physically separated. Is this the reward awaiting me with these honourable men? ‘But these books contain godless and outrageous thoughts.’ If that is overtly the case, I will not protest, and even if it is true, I swear by God almighty that it was written unconsciously and unwillingly. I admit that some parts are less neatly and clearly written because of the circumstances or the place I was living. Hence I am willing—and in fact, I am already doing it—to reconsider, to adjust, and to make it obvious to everyone’s ears and eyes that I am who I am, that is a Catholic and a faithful follower of the supreme authority of the Church, the Pope of Rome. [ . . . ] In short, I beg you to help me in whatever way you can; that you either prevent or delay my reputation being so seriously besmirched. Yet should it happen, I will endure it with a good conscience and nonetheless follow with constancy the path and the truth I have chosen and which I have also accepted in my heart. Nothing will make me falter, at least with God’s help, which I implore and I beg you, my brother, to pray for on my account as well. Good heavens, how much I am afflicted from all sides: by health, by calumnies, by ignominy!

Benci called upon the support of two other influential colleagues in Rome, the Church historian Cesare Baronio, Rector of the Oratorians, and another Jesuit, Robert Bellarmine, Rector of the Collegium Romanum, who were both closely involved in the revision of the index proposed by Sixtus V. 105 Meanwhile, Lipsius had already set out to alter parts of his Politica with the help and advice of the aforementioned Leuven theologian Henricus Cuyckius, who on his turn contacted Bellarmine. By the end of May the reworked manuscript was

105 Both wrote encouraging letters to revise his Politica; apparently, Bellarmine sent a number of remarks as well. Cf. Lipsius’s grateful letters ILE 6, 93 05 30 BAR, BEL and BEN.

344

jeanine de l and ts heer

sent to Rome. 106 Two months later his patrons returned it with letters of approval, although Benci still added a list of trivial remarks and suggestions for changes. 107 Cuyckius, who was book censor of Leuven University, dated his official approbatio on 20 September 1593, yet Lipsius shelved his manuscript for two more years. 108 Finally, Lipsius’s return to the Southern Netherlands had its consequences for his correspondence as well, in particular for that with friends and colleagues in the North. As long as he was still living in the neutral principality of Liège not much was altered in his contacts, although there seem to have been no more letters exchanged between him and Leeuwius, who had been among the regular correspondents; nor is there any trace of any further contact with Philip van Marnix, Lord of St Aldegonde. Once Lipsius had established himself in Leuven, however, his correspondence underwent substantial changes. 109 Although the Officina Plantiniana, with its sister-houses Antwerp and Leiden, and the semi-annual bookfair in Frankfurt made informal contacts easy, the doubt and suspicion Lipsius was confronted with led him to cut off his correspondence with those friends who had been dearest to him, but who also had responsible tasks: Janus Dousa, curator and one of the founding fathers of Leiden University, 110 Jan van Hout, secretary of the city of Leiden and of its University Board, Cornelis Aerssens, secretary to the States General in The Hague, and Theodorus Canterus, one of the leading citizens of Utrecht. This was much to his regret, for in one of the rare letters sent to his Leiden friends from that period, he complained: In eo ipso discessu si quid triste, fuit avelli a vobis, Hauteno et paucis, quos serio habui amicos. Sed numen ita voluit καί τις θεὸς ἡγεμόνευε, ut ait vates. Raro ad amicos aut non scribo; quis miretur aut culpet? Res et aevum vetant. Cf. ILE 6, 93 05 13. Cf. especially ILE 6, 93 07 31 BAR and BEN. Some years after Lipsius’s death the orthodoxy of the Politica would on two more occasions be questioned in Rome, but twice Bellarmine successfully defended the work. The reports have been published as appendix 1 in Waszink, Justus Lipsius. Politica, 711–720. 108 The only extant covering letter, to lawyer Martin Roeland, is dated 12 February 1596 (ILE [9,] 96 02 12. 109 Of course, once the news of his return to Leuven was spread in humanist circles, his correspondence with acquaintances in Italy and Spain, which had been interrupted during his stay in Leiden, was gradually reestablished and in the course of the years he acquired many new contacts, especially among Spanish scholars. 110 Shortly after Lipsius left Leiden he had also been appointed member of the Hoge Raad (an Assize Court). 106 107

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

345

If there was anything sad in my departure from Leiden, it was to be torn away from you, Van Hout and a few others, whom I counted among my true friends. But it was the will of God, et Dieu m’accompagne , as the poet says. That I write seldom or not at all to my friends, who will wonder or reprove me? For neither events nor time are allowing me to do so.111

Half a year later a brief sojourn with Johannes Moretus in Antwerp offered him the occasion to apologize to Theodorus Canterus: Aderat mihi communis hic amicus, nec potui quin per eum testimonium aliquod ad te mitterem prisci affectus. Etsi, quid opus? Si bene me nosti, mi Cantere, sum qui fui, nec mutor aut mutari possum in eos, ad quos iudicium et vera ratio me traxit. Amo te et quae in te sunt recta et proba, nec tempora haec absterrent, duntaxat a scribendo. Dare nos in suspiciones aut discrimina non debemus. Tu tamen tuto potes et semper id mihi gratum. A mutual friend was here, and through him I simply had to send you some testimony of our friendship in the good old days. Though, what need was there? If you know me well, my dear Canterus, I am the one I was; I did not change and nor could be changed in my opinion of people to whom conviction and true reason are attracting me. I sincerely appreciate you and everything that is right and honest in you; the times will not hinder that, even if they keep me from writing. You, however, can safely do so and it will always be welcome to me. 112

The correspondence with Raphelengius the Elder, official printer of Leiden University, had also reached a standstill. On 27 April 1594, when announcing the death of his wife Margareta Plantin to Abraham Ortelius, a deeply distressed Raphelengius complained that Lipsius had written him barely a few lines since leaving Liège for Leuven and, he continued, Saepius compellarem eum litteris, sed scio rem esse suspectam et gravem, illi praesertim qui se totum adduxit Jesuitis qui eius confessionem audiunt. Si scriberem ei de obitu carissimae meae uxoris, gratum esset, scio, sed equidem vix possum ducere calamum sine lacrymis. I would write to him more often, but I realise that this would be suspect and serious, especially for someone who has brought himself head over heels into the camp of the Jesuits, who have heard his confession. If I informed him about the death of my dearest wife, he should welcome

111 ILE 6, 93 06 14 DO to Janus Dousa the Younger, with a quotation of Hom. Od. 9, 142 (see also Erasmus, Adagia, 2, 2, 38). 112 ILE 6, 93 10 04.

346

jeanine de l and ts heer it, that I know, but I can hardly even hold my quill without being in tears.113

The letter of consolation Lipsius sent to his son and namesake some three years later, after his father’s death, shows clearly that the Leuven professor was still hankering for his friends from the good old Leiden times: O ambulationes, o sermones, o conviviola etiam crebra! Fuistis, et repetere ea negatum, quod frustra spes et desiderium promittebant. [ ...] Pessimae turbae et dissidia, quae disiungitis et in exiguis provinciarum finibus claustra et limites ponitis, non temere transiliendos! O all those walks and conversations and countless parties! All over now; resuming them was not allowed, and they were vainly promised by our hope and longing. [ . . . ] O cursed commotions and discord, what did you not tear asunder, what barriers and boundaries, not to be crossed heedlessly, did you not set up within the restricted borders of those provinces!114

With regard to the Dousa family, Lipsius broke his silence on the sad occasion of the untimely death of Janus Junior on 26 December 1596, although it took him half a year to do so. After reproving Dousa for not having informed him about his son’s illness he suggests that they might even resume their correspondence: Amor hanc culpam facit; idem diluat, sed tuus, et pro utroque iam scribe. Habes exemplum. Reges sua sibi habeant, de nostris scriptio esto, et in primis de filio, ecquid dixerit, scripserit, reliquerit quod memoriae eius faciat et solatio nostro. It is love that is at fault, let it now redeem, but your love and so write for both of you. You have an example. Kings may keep their concerns to themselves, but let us write about ours, and first of all about your son: what he said or wrote or left that might be a reminder and a consolation. 115

113 Cf. Hessels, Abraham Ortelii . . . epistulae, Ep. 244. Next Raphelengius quoted ILE 6, 93 06 14, a letter of a few lines only and commented: Hoc unum monumentum accepi et servo atque subinde exosculor. Scripsi ad eum de Scaligero polixas litteras, sed nihil respondit (This is the only token that I have received, and I preserve it and even kiss it from time to time. I have written an elaborate letter on Scaliger to him, but he did not reply). The letter about Scaliger’s arrival in Leiden and Raphelengius’s first impressions of him is ILE 6, 93 08 31. 114 ILE [10,] 97 09 01 R. 115 ILE [10,] 97 06 26 DO.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

347

As Dousa, who was riven by sorrow after his son’s decease, did not react, Lipsius made a new attempt about a month later: ‘Rupi nuper repagula et scribere coepi; perseverabo si tu voles. Quaeso te, simus qui esse debemus litterarum morumque veterum, sed et fidei ac probitatis’ (Quite recently I unbolted the door and took up writing you again; I will carry on if you wish. I beg you, let us be the ones we should be, partners in the literature and customs of Antiquity, but also examples of loyalty and honesty). 116 But once again Dousa did not answer. Conclusions Lipsius’s correspondence makes it clear that his sojourn at Jena University was purely accidental: he had fled his native country seeking for peace and quiet. Frustrated in his hopes for a position at the Imperial court that would allow him to devote himself to his studies, his need for an income made him apply for a chair at Jena University without too much concern about the conditions it implied, that is that the candidate was expected to be a Lutheran and submit an attestation proving that he had obtained the degree of Magister artium. His being acquainted with the Rector, Tilemann Heshuss, probably guaranteed that no further questions were asked about his religious persuasion. There are no indications that he did (or did not) partake in Lutheran worship, but on two occasions he definitely expressed Lutheran or anti-Catholic ideas in two public orations. In a third, he vented his abhorrence of the cruelty and the violence inflicted upon the Netherlands by the Spanish Duke Alva. Lipsius was, however, well aware that such texts would render his return to Catholic areas or regions under Spanish rule more difficult, not to say impossible, and since it was not his intention to spend the rest of his days in Jena, he refused to make these orations available in print. When they were sent to the press without his knowledge several years later, after his return to Leuven, he categorically denied authorship and insisted on having the copies confiscated throughout Germany. Obviously, his Jena experience made him more cautious during his thirteen-year stay in Leiden. Once again he had chosen to settle in this town because he wanted to avoid the continuous religious and

116

ILE [10,] 97 08 07 D.

348

jeanine de l and ts heer

political turmoil in his native country. The tolerant city offered him the serene atmosphere he was looking for. He eagerly accepted the challenge of teaching and using his administrative skills to improve the still very young University, was grateful for the opportunity to study and publish, and enjoyed the warm friendship of some of its prominent citizens. Yet from the very beginning he made it clear to friends in both the Northern and the Southern Netherlands that his stay in Leiden was only temporary and that he intended to return to his homeland and enjoy his estates in Brabant. The correspondence from these years, which is gradually better preserved, clearly proves that Lipsius took his task to heart, but refused to be involved in political or religious matters. There is no trace whatsoever that Lipsius ever renounced the Catholic creed and converted to Calvinism; it is also seriously doubtful whether he was indeed involved in the House of Love, as is often suggested. A close examination of the letters also reveals his increasing apprehensiveness concerning the growing tensions between religious factions within the Northern Provinces. The murder of William of Orange (1584) and the Fall of Antwerp (1585) became a turning point: he did not believe in the new political regime’s placing of power in the hands of the States General and the Provinces, nor did he approve of the close co-operation with the English queen. The appointment of Leicester, who was a very strict Protestant, together with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Protestant refugees from the South marked the end of the highly praised tolerance. A first attempt to return in the autumn of 1586 was thwarted only by a military expedition in the neighbourhood of Oldenburg. Already on that occasion his friends and colleagues had become suspicious of what was theoretically a journey to restore his health. Hence they should have been forewarned when the scenario was repeated some four years later, after Lipsius had consciously completed two extra years of rectorship. He had no qualms about pledging his return in a few months’ time, once he had recovered his health, because it was the only way to get the permission to leave. During the two months he sojourned through Germany he was extremely careful about what he wrote in his letters, in order not to give away his true intentions. Only a very few people—and then only the ones needed to make his departure succeed—were informed of his whereabouts or future plans, and they were always urgently requested to maintain strict secrecy until he was certain of his welcome in the South and had informed the Board and his colleagues in Leiden.

pius lipsius or lipsius ? proteus

349

In his letters concerning his request for discharge he keeps emphasizing that he has done his utmost for Leiden University and its students, that he has always been treated in a very friendly, courteous and benevolent way, but that for considerations of health he is no longer able to deal with the exigencies of academic life. In their reactions, both official and private, Lipsius’s former colleagues were mostly offended because he had deceived them and not kept his promise. They also expressed their sincere concern that his absence might cause the downfall of the institution; they acknowledged his merits and were willing to release him from his teaching. Religion is never mentioned, at least not in the correspondence with Lipsius. It was only some months later, when discussing his departure with other correspondents, that occasionally the Jesuits were blamed for having wiled him away. In his letters to friends and acquaintances in Liège or in the South, Lipsius is more open about his reasons for leaving the North, never missing an occasion to stress his orthodoxy or his loyalty towards King Philip. But here, too, he keeps emphasizing that he really enjoyed the years spent in Holland. In the South, Lipsius could count on friends and acquaintances, secular priests or members of religious orders, who were quite willing to stress their conviction that he never foreswore the faith of his ancestors and to support him in his wish to obtain a chair at Leuven University. Nevertheless, he surely underestimated the fact that others were not so ready to accept him and kept regarding him with suspicion. Hence the occasional complaint about slander and backbiting, the delay in the publication of his De cruce or the reworked version of the Politica, and the hesitation (for almost ten years!) to have his letters re-issued or compose new Centuriae of letters.117 The most serious consequences, however, of his return to the Spanish Netherlands can be seen in the correspondence itself. Once Lipsius had returned to Leuven, his acquaintances in Spain and Italy soon resumed their epistolary contacts, encouraging others to do so as well. Conversely, regular contacts with the Leiden trio Van Hout, Dousa the Elder and Raphelengius the Elder, with Canterus in Utrecht or Leeuwius and Aerssens in The Hague became very restricted or even ceased to exist at all. This occurred certainly not out of indifference, but it is a testimony of the sad impact of irreconcilable political and religious rifts on every person’s life.

117 The first re-issue of the existing two Centuriae, to which a third Centuria of new letters was added, came from the press in 1601.

PART IV

VICISSITUDES OF LATE HUMANISM

Fig. 20. Caspar Schoppius, Letter to Justus Lipsius (1 April 1606). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 4 (S)

SHIFTING ORTHODOXY IN THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS: CASPAR SCHOPPIUS MIRRORING JUSTUS LIPSIUS* Jan Papy (Leuven) Scioppius veut monter trop haut et est ridicule comme le singe qui tant plus monte-t-il haut, tant plus montre-t-il le derrière. Scaligerana (Cologne 1695, 364)

There is no need t o repeat that during the 1580s a nd 1590s J ustus Lipsius became one of the dominant figures in a netw ork of contacts which embraced all of Europe from their centre and source in the Low Countries.1 His letters, a f ourth of which was p ublished by himself, were in a way ‘the holy writ of the late Renaissance’.2 As a consequence of his cen tral position in t he Republic of Letters, much ink has b een spent on the question how Lipsius, born in the Spanish Southern Low Countries, ended up in the Lutheran university of Jena and the Calvinist University of Leiden, to return to the Catholic Southern Low Countries in 1591, ‘from uncertain faith to certain heresy’, as an Anglican correspondent of Hugo Blotius, Henry Wotton, put it.3 The near-coincidence of what is often called his ‘conversion’ with that of the king of France, Henry IV, gave educated contemporaries much food for thought, and, obviously, this decade was a t urning-point in w hich a cer tain change * I would like to thank Dr R.W. Truman (Christ Church College, Oxford) for various corrections to a first draft of this article and for kindly improving my English text. 1 See, for instance, M. Morford, Stoics and Neostoics. Rubens and the Circle of Lipsius (Princeton 1991); M. Laureys et al. (eds), The World of Justus Lipsius: A contribution towards his Intellectual Biography. Proceedings of a Colloquium Held under the Auspices of the Belgian Historical Institute in Rome (Rome, 22–24 May 1997) , Bulletin de l’Institut Historique belge de Rome 68 (1998). Recently, an exhibition catalogue focused on Lipsius and his central position in Early Modern Europe: J. De Landtsheer, D. Sacré, and C. Coppens (eds), Justus Lipsius (1547–1606), een geleerde en zijn Europese netwerk. Catalogus van de tentoonstelling in de Centrale Bibliotheek te Leuven, 18 oktober-20 december 2006 , Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 21 (Leuven 2006). 2 R.J.W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy 1550–1700. An Interpretation (Oxford 1979), 58. 3 Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ms. 9737 z17, f. 158, quoted by Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy , 58.

354

jan papy

of mood from free speculation to orthodox constraint was decisi vely demonstrated in a cruel way in the burning of Giordano Bruno on the Campo dei Fiori.4 Yet, how deep did this borderline run? The Habsburg emperor in Prague was prevailed upon to dismiss so many of his earlier, more liberal advisers, such as the Protestant secretary of state Jan Myllner. 5 In Valladolid, that reputed harbour for heterodox books and preachers, the second of the two trials against Lipsius’s friend Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas, editor of Stoic authors such as Persius (1599) and Epictetus (1600), ended in a condemnation for having propagated so-called Erasmian views. 6 Notwithstanding, the correspondence of a humanist scholar such as Lipsius illustrates that religious and political differences did not restrain men of learning from maintaining scholarly contact. Of course, it goes without saying that Lipsius’s return to Leuven brought him new correspondents. Catholic scholars and 7 In addition humanists suddenly turned up from all over Europe. to several new contacts in Russia and Poland, Habsburg correspondents such as Marcus Welser from Augsburg, 8 Andreas Jerin, former bishop from Breslau, 9 and Valens Acidalius, since 1593 residing in

Luigi Firpo (ed. D. Quaglioni), Il proceso de Giordano Bruno (Rome 1993). See H. Sacchi, La Guerre de Trente Ans , t. 1: L’ombre de Charles Quint (Paris 2003), 146; Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy , 59. 6 Cf. M. Bataillon, Erasme et l’Espagne. Nouvelle édition en trois volumes . Texte établi par D. Devoto, éd. par les soins de Ch. Amiel, Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance 250 (Geneva 1991), 778–780; 814–816. 7 On Lipsius’s return to the Southern Low Countries, see J. De Landtsheer, ‘Le retour de Juste Lipse de Leyden à Louvain selon sa correspondance (1591–1594)’, in C. Mouchel (ed.), Juste Lipse (1547–1606) en son temps. Actes du colloque de Strasbourg, 1994 (Paris 1996), 347–368, and Eadem, ‘From North to South: Some New Documents on Lipsius’ Journey from Leiden to Liège’, in D. Sacré and G. Tournoy (eds), Myricae. Essays on Neo-Latin Literature in Memory of Jozef IJsewijn , Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 16 (Leuven 2000), 303–331. 8 ILE [4,] 91 02 28; ILE 5, 92 01 23 W. On the relationship Lipsius—Welser, see J. Papy, ‘Lipsius and Marcus Welser: the Antiquarian’s Life as Via Media’, in M. Laureys et al. (eds), Towards an Intellectual Biography of Justus Lipsius , 173–190. ILE refers to the series Iusti Lipsi Epistolae, published by the Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten; Pars I: 1564–1583 , ed. A. Gerlo, M. Nauwelaerts, and H.D.L. Vervliet (1978); Pars II: 1584–1587, ed. M. Nauwelaerts and S. Sué (1983); Pars [IV]: 1591, [forthcoming in 2011]; Pars V: 1592, ed. J. De Landtsheer and J. Kluyskens (1991); Pars VI: 1593, ed. J. De Landtsheer (1994); Pars VII: 1594, ed. J. De Landtsheer (1997); Pars VIII: 1595, ed. Eadem (Brussels, 2004); Pars [IX]: 1596, ed. H. Peeters [forthcoming]; Pars [X]: 1597, ed. J. De Landtsheer and H. Peeters [forthcoming]; Pars XIII: 1600, ed. J. Papy (2000). 9 ILE 5, 92 02 08 J. 4 5

shifting orthodoxy in the republic of letters

355

Breslau,10 all tried to get in touch with Lipsius. 11 Moreover, Johannes Matthaeus Wacker von Wackenfels, who had been the adviser of 12 Jerin in Breslau, where he got acquainted with Jacobus Monavius 13 and Andreas Dudith, followed Lipsius’s lead. Being one of the leading figures at court, he remained devoted to the niceties of humanist investigation—in his unpublished correspondence one can read lengthy discussions of classical charioteering—yet he equally followed his admired friend Lipsius in embracing a resolute Catholicism in 1592.14 Whereas others such as Conrad Rittershusius, professor of Roman Law at Altdorf, 15 Carolus Utenhovius Jr, son of the former mayor of Ghent and then staying in Cologne, 16 and Valens Acidalius are fulsome in their public admiration and lofty praise of the humanist Lipsius who recently returned to Roman Catholicism, 17 Rittershusius’s former student and Wacker’s protégé Caspar Schoppius went still further: in a quite unique way Schoppius, born a Lutheran, managed to pass from being an erudite youth to a rabid Curial propagandist in only a few years. For, if Schoppius, leading propagandist as he became of Clement VIII and Paul V in the German lands and architect of the extirpation of heresy not through doctrinal conversion but through Realpolitik, is nowadays mostly known for his eyewitness-report written to Conrad Rittershusius describing the burning of Giordano Bruno 10 ILE 5, 92 05 01 A. See also J. IJsewijn, An Admirer of Justus Lipsius. The German Neo-Latin Poet and Philologist Valens Acidalius , Academiae Analecta: Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België. Klasse der Letteren 45 (1983), 183–206. 11 For Lipsius and his contacts in the Habsburg regions, see, for instance, J. Papy, ‘Justus Lipsius and the German Republic of Letters: Latin Philology as a Means of Intellectual Exchance and Influence’, in E. Keßler and H.C. Kuhn (eds), Germania Latina/Latinitas teutonica: Politik, Wissenschaft, humanistische Kultur vom späten Mittelalter bis in unsere Zeit , Humanistische Bibliothek: Texte und Abhandlungen, I-Abhandlungen/54 (Munich 2003), 523–538, and Idem, ‘Justus Lipsius and Hungary: Exchange of Humanist Intellectual and Educational Programme’, in L. Havas and E. Tegyey (eds), Hercules Latinus: Acta colloquiorum minorum anno MMIV Aquis Sextiis, sequenti autem anno Debrecini causa praeparandi grandis eius XIII conventus habitorum, quem Societas Internationalis Studiis Neolatinis Provehendis diebus 6–13 m. Aug. a. MMVI in Hungariae finibus instituet (Debrecen 2006), 171–179. 12 Their first contacts, however, already date from 1582, and these went via Abraham Ortelius; see ILE 1, 82 07 15. 13 P. Costil, André Dudith, humaniste hongrois 1533–1589. Sa vie, son œuvre et ses manuscrits grecs, Collection d’études anciennes (Paris 1935), 195–199. 14 ILE 5, 92 08 29; 92 08 31 W; ILE 13, 00 01 07. 15 ILE [9,] 96 08 31; ILE 13, 00 01 07. 16 ILE 5, [92] 04 02. See also Philip Ford’s contribution to this book, pp. 149–160. 17 See IJsewijn, ‘An Admirer of Justus Lipsius’, 183–206.

356

jan papy

in Rome in gloating terms, 18 his correspondence, especially the letters written to his former Protestant colleagues, affords striking testimony to the change of mood mentioned before. Mirroring

Lipsius

Schoppius’s first contact with Lipsius had, however, nothing to do with religious matters. Like many other ambitious young scholars, he contrived to get himself introduced to Lipsius as if he, Schoppius, were the new philological prodigy of his era. I n a way he thus just followed the lead of many other German philologists and historians who continued to dedicate their work to Lipsius, to ask for his judgment or to beg for his recommendation, hoping, as did Janus Gruterus, that Lipsius would mediate to have their work published with the Plantin Press,19 or that their name would be connected to that of Lipsius. For whoever wrote a letter to the great scholar would be able to share in his immortal fame, because his collected letters would be published one day and read by the entire Respublica litterarum!20 It was Schoppius’s former professor in Altdorf, Conrad Rittershusius, who, elegantly balancing on the tight-rope of Renaissance decorum, both recommended his own edition of Oppianus, which he had published with Raphelengius, and also the Verisimilium libri IV of his promising pupil Caspar Schoppius, published in Nürnberg in 1596. Not yet twenty years old, this new philological genius was about to finish his studies in Law with Rittershusius’s own teacher, Obertus Giphanius (1534–1604) in Ingolstadt, who was a correspondent of Lipsius for ten years already. By then the prodigious young scholar had succeeded in emending Symmachus, Cornelius Nepos, Propertius

See A. Montano, ‘Gaspare Schopp a Corrado Rittershausen: l’unica testimonianza sulla morte di Giordano Bruno’, in Quaderni 5 (1988), 29–56. The text has also been reprinted in the collective volume edited by H. Jaumann, Kaspar Schoppe (1576– 1649), Philologe im Dienste der Gegenreformation. Beiträge zur Gelehrtenkultur des europäischen Späthumanismus, Zeitsprünge: Forschungen zur Frühen Neuzeit, 2/3–4 (Frankfurt am Main 1998), 459–464. See also my article on the epistolary contacts between Lipsius and Schoppius: ‘ Manus manum lavat . Die Briefkontakte zwischen Kaspar Schoppe und Justus Lipsius als Quelle für die Kenntnis der sozialen Verhältnisse in der Respublica litteraria’, in ibid., 276–297. 19 ILE 2, 86 09 07: Gruterus wanted to have his Carmina printed by the Plantin Press. 20 Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy 1550–1700 , 25. 18

shifting orthodoxy in the republic of letters

357

and Petronius. Barriers put up by confessional parties were not insurmountable: on the contrary, if Rittershusius asked Lipsius to judge Schoppius’s first philological endeavour and to support his student, he would make the same request to Josephus Justus Scaliger, then professor at Leiden University, in the very same words one month later. 21 Rittershusius did not, however, have to wait long to receive Lipsius’s answer. The latter’s letter to Schoppius’s teacher is interesting in a double way, for both a manuscript and a printed version have been preserved. In the original reply, dated 27 October 1596 and preserved in the Saltykov-Shchedrin Library in St Petersburg, 22 Lipsius apologizes for the fact that he had not yet found time to have a proper look at Schoppius’s Verisimilia. What he had noticed, however, was that Schoppius did not go in for libelling and attacking others, a practice which Lipsius had wittily deplored in his Menippean satire Somnium, Lusus in nostri aevi Criticos : contemporary textual criticism was reprehended for its over-zealous emendations and alterations to the texts of classical authors. 23 More important is the fact that, much later and posthumously, Lipsius’s answer to Rittershusius was included in the Iusti Lipsi Epistolarum praetermissarum decades sex , a small selection of his correspondence published with Conrad Neben at Offenbach in 1610. Strikingly, in this collection one can read not only Lipsius’s answer to Rittershusius—now dated 1 February 1597, clearly rewritten and much more elaborate than before—but also Lipsius’s very first letter to Schoppius himself. Not without reason letter no. 44 in these Epistolae praetermissae, now dated 29 March 1597, immediately follows the

21 See Petrus Burmannus, Sylloges epistolarum a viris illustribus scriptarum tomi V (Leiden 1724–1727), 2, 327: ‘Gaspar Schoppius est adolescens ingeniosus et acutus, qui hac aestate novum opusculum criticum edidit titulo Verisimilium. Eum librum tibi, Illustris Scaliger, ipsius nomine mitto, quod quidem ipse facturus fuerat, ni peraegre abesset. Rogo autem tuam praestantiam, ut efflorescenti hominis indoli tu quoque favere velis, quem ego cognovi admiratorem virtutis et eruditionis tuae incomparabilis multo maximum, quique iam nunc in hoc aetatis lubrico ad omnem virtutis laudem, decusque literarium ex summis opibus connititur.’ (Rittershusius to Scaliger, Altdorf, September 1596). On Schoppius’s attempts to enter into contact with Scaliger in using his Ars critica, see A. Grafton, ‘Kaspar Schoppe and the Art of Textual Criticism’, in Jaumann, Kaspar Schoppe (1576–1649), Philologe im Dienste der Gegenreformation , 231–243. 22 Ms. Doubrowsky 140, no. 83 (= ILE [9,] 96 10 27 R). 23 I.A.R. De Smet, Menippean Satire and the Republic of Letters, 1581–1655, Travaux du Grand Siècle 2 (Geneva 1996), 87–116.

358

jan papy

one to Rittershusius. 24 If one should feel to read Schoppius’s praise in Lipsius’s letter, two important details should not be overlooked. Lipsius praises Schoppius for his Verisimilia: having been divided into four books his work can truly be compared to the Verisimilium libri tres which Janus Guilielmus (Johann Wilhelm; 1555–1584) had published with Plantin in 1582 and for which Guilielmus too had asked for Lipsius’s iudicium.25 Recognizing the value of Schoppius’s work Lipsius undertook to recommend him to Moretus so as to guarantee the services of an international press for Schoppius’s work. Yet he did not simply recognize Schoppius’s philological talent. The very choice of classical authors discussed by Schoppius was, he wrote, valuable and, more important perhaps, reminded one of the Variae lectiones , the philological collection with which Lipsius himself had entered the scene in 1569. The more Schoppius mirrored Lipsius, the more successful, it appears, his success was. From ‘Conversion’ to Apologetics Yet, Schoppius did not only endeavour to mirror Lipsius in his p hilological and scholarly activities. The dedication to Jacques Bongars of his Suspectarum lectionum libri V, a co llection of 114 p hilological letters concerning textual problems in Apuleius, Plautus and Diomedes Grammaticus addressed to the great philologists of his days such as Josephus Justus Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, Joachim Camerarius, Nathan Chytraeus, and Justus Lipsius,26 equally yielded a r eturn: Schoppius could travel to Padua where he was introduced to the renowned and erudite physician Gianvincenzo Pinelli (1535–1601).27 Moreover, thanks to Marcus Welser’s support he co uld move to the imperial Court in P rague, an ideal setting for his scheming and ambitious mind. Decisive, for sure,

24 Copy written by a secretary preserved in Leiden, Univ. Lib., ms. Lips. 3(19), f. 28v, no. 75 and ms. Lips. 3(20), f. 18v, no. 28 (= ILE [10,] 97 03 29 S). 25 ILE 1, 80 08 11 and 82 01 25. 26 Caspar Schoppius, Suspectarum lectionum libri quinque, in centum et quattuordecim epistulas ad celeberrimos quosque aevi nostri viros aliosque amicos facti. In quibus amplius ducentis locis Plautus, plurimis Apuleius, Diomedes Grammaticus, alii corriguntur, notantur, subplentur, illustrantur (Nürnberg 1597). 27 On Pinelli see, most recently, Gian Vincenzo Pinelli et Claude Dupuy. Une correspondance entre deux humanistes. Editée avec introduction, notes et index par A.M. Raugei, 2 vols, Le corrispondenze letterarie, scientifiche ed erudite dal Rinascimento all’ età moderna 8 (Florence 2001).

shifting orthodoxy in the republic of letters

359

was his co ntact with the Latin poet Tobias Scultetus (1565–1620),28 imperial councillor and long-time prefect of the Silesian and Lusatian Exchequers. For it was t hanks to Scultetus that Schoppius entered into contact with Johannes Matthaeus Wacker (1550–1619), im perial councillor and Latin poet alike, yet also a former member of the intellectual community at Breslau.29 Having studied law at Strasbourg and Geneva, Wacker found his way to Vienna, where he was w elcomed by the circle centred on Johannes Crato von Craἀ heim. Through them he was r ecommended as t utor to Nicholaus III R hediger, nephew of Thomas, in 1576, a p osition which proved the prelude to his f urther career: with Rhediger he travelled through France, Germany and Italy before returning to Breslau. While inspiring Breslau humanism (with Andreas Dudith,30 Jacobus Monavius, Carolus Clusius and Philip Sidney) and enjoying the friendship of the educated and Habsburg-sponsored Bishop of Breslau, Andreas Jerin, he was made a co uncillor to the Silesian Exchequer or Schlesischer Kammerrat. Having lost his wife, their little daughter and son in only a few months,31 Wacker followed the example of his admired friend Lipsius 32 At and became a convert to the Roman Catholic Church in 1592. all events the change in allegiance led to no break with his Protestant friends.33 Conversely, it gave a new impetus to his diplomatic career. Rudolph II called Wacker to Prague so as to entrust him with a mission to Rome and the Holy See. At court in Prague Wacker, fluent in German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, French and Spanish, soon became a central figure, the more so because he also was a celebrated Latin poet34 and was the owner of a splendid library filled with Neoplatonic texts, Paracelsian writings and demonologies, where his protégé Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) and his friend Joannes Kepler (1571–1630),

28 See R.J.W. Evans, Rudolf II and his World. A Study in Intellectual History 1576–1612 (Oxford 1973), 150 and 234–235. 29 See T. Lindner, ‘Johann Matthäus Wacker von Wackenfels’, in Zeitschrift des Vereins für Geschichte und Altertum Schlesiens 8 (1868), 319–351; Evans, Rudolf II and his World, 154–156. 30 Costil, André Dudith, 195–199. 31 ILE 5, 92 08 31 W. 32 ILE 5, 92 08 29; 92 08 31 W; ILE 13, 00 01 07. 33 Lindner, ‘Johann Matthäus Wacker von Wackenfels’, 330. 34 See A. Tarnai, ‘Deutschland als Zentrum der internationalen lateinischen Dichtung im Späthumanismus’, in A. Buck and T. Klanickzay (eds), Das Ende der Renaissance: Europäische Kultur um 1600 , Wolfenbütteler Abhandlungen zur Renaissanceforschung 6 (Wiesbaden 1987), 155–164 (esp. 163–164).

360

jan papy

who dedicated to him his Somnium sive astronomia lunaris and touching epigrams on the death of Wacker’s brilliant nine-year-old daughter, were among his welcome guests. This library had also been the setting of Schoppius’s conversion; at least that is what Schoppius himself wants us to believe in his famous Epistola de sua ad orthodoxos migratione. 35 Opening a volume of Cesare Baronio’s Annales ecclesiastici, divine Providence (he says) guided him to a passage on the Early Church of the Apostles and its first dogmas.36 Whether or not it was the influence of the Holy Spirit that touched his heart, the late 1590s display unmistakable mounting evidence of the intellectual attractiveness of Catholicism, a fact which is highlighted by the rising number of conversions to the Church of Rome in Prague. A simple list of important cases during the years around 1600 is easy to draw up: Christian Francken, Simon Simonius, Johann Pistorius, Valens Acidalius, Christopher Colerus, Otto Melander, Prince Karl of Liechtenstein, Vilém Slavata. 37 Moreover, Schoppius’s friendship with Wacker not only brought him new faith; it also brought him new professional perspectives within the milieu of humanism and the Holy See. Already at the beginning of May 1598 Schoppius joined Wacker on his mission to Rome where they arrived in December. A unique source for the analysis of Schoppius’s position and ambitions in these Catholic milieux, is offered by his correspondence with Lipsius. Having renewed epistolary contacts with him in 1600 after years of silence, Schoppius never disclosed his avowed intentions in such a direct way as now in his letters to Lipsius. 38 Obviously, Schoppius did not only admire Lipsius as a philological icon; he was also impressed by how Lipsius some years after his return to the Southern Netherlands was more and more represented as a unique symbol of the victorious Counter-Reformation. See C. Nisard, Les Gladiateurs de la République des Lettres aux XV e, XVI e et XVII siècles, 2 vols. (Paris 1860), 2, 25 and M. d’Addio, Il pensiero politico di Gaspare Scioppio e il machiavellismo del Seicento , Istituto di Studi Storico-politici. Università di Roma, Facoltà di Scienze Politiche 4 (Milan 1962), 16, n. 13. 36 The story is also recounted in C.K. Pullapilly, Caesar Baronius, CounterReformation Historian (Notre Dame-London 1975), 85, yet without mentioning Wacker’s name. H. Jedin, Kardinal Caesar Baronius: der Anfang der katholischen Kirchengeschichtsschreibung im 16. Jahrhundert (Münster 1978) does not recount this anecdote. 37 Evans, Rudolf II and his World , 156. 38 See Nisard, Les Gladiateurs, 2, 35: ‘Son coeur eut avec Lipse, et avec Lipse seul, toute l’ouverture qu’il pouvait avoir.’ 35

e

shifting orthodoxy in the republic of letters

361

As Lipsius had to defend his return from the Northern Low Countries to the Catholic South, both with his Protestant colleagues and friends in Leiden, and his Catholic hosts in Liège and Leuven, Schoppius too had to lend credibility to his conversion in both camps. In addition to his Epistola de sua ad orthodoxos migratione already mentioned,39 Schoppius ceaselessly put pen to paper to confirm his orthodoxy and to stress his loyalty to the Holy See: a first Epistola de veritate interpretationis et sententiae Catholicae in ambiguis scripturarum locis et controversis fidei capitibus, of 1599, was reprinted almost immediately in June 1600. In September 1599 he also addressed two shorter Letters to his former teacher Rittershusius in which he discussed several Catholic dogmas and theological difficulties. A letter to Lipsius, finally, dated on 7 January 1600, 40 is a staggering nose dive: Schoppius repeats that his only goal when writing these works, is to convince his old friends that his ‘conversion’ was well considered. On the contrary, on the occasion of the Holy Year 1600 he would have a new work printed in Munich dealing with indulgences. Lipsius’s answer, arriving a month later, was as telling as Schoppius’s manifesto: 41 Schoppius (he advised) should not sharpen his pen too much, for in adopting modesty and love, not by writing polemical letters and treatises, he would achieve far more with his old Protestant friends. It is no great surprise that Schoppius never engaged with serious theological issues in his letters addressed to Lipsius—this in striking contrast to his correspondence with Jacques Bongars 42—nor did he defend the Catholic faith as the only true faith by any resort to subtleties of argument. Lipsius for his part never reacted to or dealt with issues discussed in Schoppius’s theological works. Is it then Rome, the ‘old Rome’, that centre of learning and humanism, and that Rome only, that unites both scholars who recently converted to Roman Catholicism? In his letter of 7 January 1600, Schoppius only wrote of his intention to publish Lipsius’s Admiranda sive De Magnitudine Romana 39 See Caspar Schoppius, Epistola de sua ad Orthodoxos migratione (Ingolstadt 1600), 12. 40 The original letter is kept at Leiden, University Library, ms. Lips. 4; see ILE 13, 00 01 07. 41 ILE 13, 00 02 07 S (= I. Lipsius, Epistolarum Centuria ad Italos et Hispanos (Antwerp 1601), ep. 85). 42 Original copies kept at Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. B149, 359 (Bongars to Schoppius, 30 July 1599) and B149, 360 (Schoppius to Bongars, 30 October 1599).

362

jan papy

Libri Quattuor together with Thomas Stapleton’s Vere Admiranda seu de Magnitudine Romanae Ecclesiae Libri Duo .43 For, as Schoppius had asked his friend Filippo Pigafetta (1533–1604) to translate Lipsius’s Admiranda into Italian so as to open Lipsius’s work within the reach of the numerous pilgrims travelling to Rome during that Holy Year, likewise Datarius Bernardino Paolini commissioned Schoppius to publish Lipsius’s work on Rome’s worldly mirabilia, together with Stapleton’s book dealing with Christian places of interest. Very revealing in this respect is Schoppius’s line of reasoning when he wanted to convince Lipsius that such a joint-venture was desirable. Not only would Lipsius’s Admiranda be for sale everywhere in Rome but readers would buy Stapleton’s work on the Catholic Church at the same time, though they would notice the difference in quality. In any case, Lipsius had to find himself approving the judgment of Welser, Wacker and others. He had also to know that this new edition was meant not for scholars but for native Romans and foreigners travelling there. Schoppius’s preface would, finally, contain some things the reader should know and would set out Lipsius’s merits for the ‘studiosi bonarum artium et historiae’. Once Schoppius had received Lipsius’s written approval of his conversion and of his intention to publish the Admiranda in Rome, 44 his openness, if possible, still increased. In great detail he recounted his ever-growing success in ecclesiastical circles in Rome, a success he acknowledged that he owed to Lipsius and Welser, for they had recommended him to Cardinal Cesare Baronio. 45 It has been stated by Charles Nisard that Schoppius boasted openly about his ecclesiastical career only in his letters to Lipsius, whereas, for obvious reasons, he 43 On Lipsius’s Admiranda and its publication and (Italian) translation in Rome, see ILE 13, 00 01 07; M. Laureys and Jan Papy, ‘ “The Grandeur that was Rome”: Lipsius’ variaties op een oud thema’, in R. Dusoir, J. De Landtsheer, and D. Imhof (eds), Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) en het Plantijnse Huis, Publicaties van het Museum Plantin-Moretus en het Stedelijk Prentenkabinet 37 (Antwerp 1997), 129–137 and M. Laureys, ‘“The grandeur that was Rome”: Scholarly Analysis and Pious Awe in Lipsius’ Admiranda’, in K. Enenkel, J.L. de Jong, and J. De Landtsheer (eds), Recreating Ancient History. Episodes from the Greek and Roman Past in the Arts and Literatures of the Early Modern Period, Intersections. Yearbook for Early Modern Studies 1 (LeidenBoston-Cologne 2001), 123–146. A different and thought-provoking interpretation of Lipsius’s Admiranda can be read in K.A.E. Enenkel, ‘Ein Pläydoyer für den Imperialismus: Justus Lipsius’ kulturhistorische Monographie Admiranda sive de Magnitudine Romana (1598)’, in Daphnis 33 (2004), 583–621. 44 ILE 13, 00 02 07 S. 45 ILE 13, 00 03 04.

shifting orthodoxy in the republic of letters

363

minimized or even concealed it when writing to his old Protestant friends. The truth is less black-and-white. It goes without saying that Schoppius attempted to defend himself, both in his Epistola de sua ad Orthodoxos migratione of 1600, and later in his Amphotides Scioppianae of 1611, against Protestant criticism on this point. Yet his (unpublished) correspondence with Wacker and Hugo Blotius clearly reveals that Schoppius was not secretive about his ambitions in Rome. While describing the festivities surrounding the opening of the Holy Door at the beginning of the Holy Year in a letter to Wacker, he complains that he had not yet achieved the position of a laticlavius in the Vatican,46 whereas, a month later in a letter addressed to Blotius, he rejoices that he has become Comes Palatinus, for this meant that he was allowed to move into a flat in the Vatican gardens in the neighbourhood of the marble group of Laocoön. 47 Roman Curia and Scholarly Decorum Obviously, Rome was no t only the ideal place to advance his s ocial status, but also a unique place for enhancing the quality of his scholarly output and thus to mirror Lipsius once more. For, as Lipsius had laid the foundations for his future life as a s cholar during his stay in Rome in 1568–1570—most of his important philological and antiquarian works are a result of his contacts with prominent Italian humanists and the access he had to their libraries or archeological treasures48—Schoppius was now in a simila r position. As an antiquarian scholar he collected epigraphical texts and managed to get himself accepted as a collaborator in Janus Gruterus’s project to publish a second edition of the Inscriptiones antiquae.49 Thanks to recommendations by Lipsius and Welser, important

Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ms. 9734*, fol. 18–18v (dated 9 January 1600). 47 Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ms. 9737 z14–18, V, fol. 121 (dated 26 February 1600). 48 J. Ruysschaert, ‘Le séjour de Juste Lipse à Rome (1568–1570) d’après ses Antiquae lectiones et sa correspondance’, in Bulletin de l’Institut historique belge de Rome 24 (1947–1948), 139–192; H.D.L. Vervliet, Lipsius’ jeugd, 1547–1578. Analecta voor een kritische biografie, Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Letteren 31, 7 (Brussels 1969), 24–29. 49 See ILE 13, 00 01 07 and P. de Nolhac, La bibliothèque de Fulvio Orsini (Geneva 1976 [= Paris 1887]), 36, 40–42 and 62–63. 46

364

jan papy

Roman libraries were open to him. New manuscripts of Apuleius and Gellius led on to new philological studies.50 New evidence was looked for to improve Wacker’s Cruciaria, a short revision of a chapter on the furca (a two-pronged fork or a yoke used as an instrument of punishment) in L ipsius’s De cruce,51 evidence which, as S choppius wrote to Lipsius, Wacker and Blotius, was e asy to find on Trajan’s column and several marble slabs in Rome.52 Yet, in order to enhance his status in the Republic of Letters, Schoppius not only offered his scholarly services to colleagues outside Italy seeking useful information or help; he also functioned as a link between the Roman Curia and Catholic circles from Germany and the Low Countries. In this respect, he associated his name with that of Lipsius in more than one way: first, he wanted to be a key figure in the German colony in Rome; second, he took care of tens of students or artists travelling to Rome and looking for a suitable patron among the Roman Cardinals and dignitaries. Among them Philip Rubens, brother of the painter and beloved pupil of Lipsius in Leuven, stands out, not least because Peter Paul Rubens immortalized their friendship twice.53 The presence of the Rubens brothers in Rome had yet another kind of impact on Schoppius’s intellectual development. Through them he became acquainted in a deeper way still with Lipsius’s Neostoic thought.54 Moreover, Schoppius himself would publish his Elementa philosophiae Stoicae moralis in Mainz in 1606, two years after Lipsius’s manuals on Stoic philosophy had appeared in Antwerp. As with many others of his former teachers and colleagues—Schoppius, for instance, time and again tried to rebut the charge that he had stolen ideas from

50 Viz. the Symbola critica in L. Apuleii [. . .] opera (1605) and the posthumously edited Auli Gelli Noctium Atticarum Libri XX (Leiden 1702). 51 ILE 7, 94 02 05 W; 8, 95 03 04 J; 95 03 04 W; 13, 00 01 07. 52 Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ms. 9734*, f. 20 (to Wacker, dated 19 February 1600), and Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ms. 9734 z14–18, V, f. 121 (to Blotius, dated 26 February 1600). 53 In the painting ‘The Mantuan Friendship’ (Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, No Dep. 248) and in a portrait of Schoppius (Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Inv. no. 198). See F. Huemer, Portraits I, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, 19/1 (Brussels 1984), 163–167. 54 See Morford, Stoics and Neostoics, 33–35; J. Papy, ‘Justus Lipsius, his Dogs, and his Scholarship: Humanist Traditions in Text and Image and its Echoes in Rubens’s Four Philosophers’, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 62 (1999), 167–198.

shifting orthodoxy in the republic of letters

365

Giphanius concerning Symmachus and from Rittershusius concerning Plautus—this publication of the Elementa philosophiae Stoicae moralis troubled his relationship with Lipsius and diminished his reputation in the Republic of Letters once more. Worse still, after Lipsius’s death, the ever acidulous and biting Schoppius boasted that his Elementa had been conceived before Lipsius had even thought about publishing his Manuductio ad Stoicam philosophiam . Moreover, in order to prove that his relationship with Lipsius had always remained spotless, he inserted Lipsius’s letter of 14 August 1604 in which the Louvain professor had sought Schoppius’s judgment on his Manuductio ad Stoicam philosophiam and Physiologia Stoicorum, in his own polemical Amphotides Scioppianae of 1611. In his long and fierce defence of himself against the legitimate counter-attacks of Josephus Justus Scaliger, Daniel Heinsius and Johannes Rutgersius, Schoppius used Lipsius as he had used another of Lipsius’s letters as testimony to his philological genius in his Suspectarum lectionum libri V of 1597. 55 Finally, Schoppius’s true countenance is revealed in a letter which Maximilianus Manilius addressed from Graz to the Antwerp printer Balthasar Moretus in 1616. Schoppius, as Manilius testifies, criticized his former idol Lipsius for not even having dealt with twenty per cent of the history of the Stoic school in his introductory manual on the subject. In addition, he even reproached Lipsius for lacking order in his exposition of Stoic philosophy.56 Schoppius, who at the very start of his career had been given much credit when he had converted to Roman Catholicism in Prague in an apparent sincere way, lost it all when once again going beyond all limits of scholarly decorum. Still, one last but intriguing question remains. Why did Lipsius include only one of Schoppius’s letters in his letter-collections, his wellbalanced and lasting literary monument for posterity? And which one of Schoppius’s letters did he include? The answer is as understandable as it is revealing. In his collection Epistolarum Centuria singularis ad

Amphotides Scioppianae (Paris 1611), 145–151. See Correspondance de Rubens et documents épistolaires concernant sa vie et ses oeuvres, publiés, traduits, annotés par C. Ruelens. Tome premier: 1600–1608 (Antwerp 1887), 265. I cordially thank J. Kraye (Warburg Institute, London) for having informed me about this letter. See now also J. Papy, ‘Lipsius as “Master of Order”. The True Face of Lipsius’s Stoicism in the Manuductio ad Stoicam philosophiam (1604) and ms. Lips. 6’, in J. De Landtsheer and P. Delsaerdt (eds), Iam illustravit omnia. Justus Lipsius als lievelingsauteur van het Plantijnse Huis , De Gulden Passer 84 (Antwerp 2006), 221–237. 55 56

366

jan papy

Italos et Hispanos, published in Antwerp in 1601 and dedicated to Cardinal Federico Borromeo with the aim of illustrating and defending Lipsius’s own still doubted position as a miles, a soldier in the CounterReformation ideal of militia,57 he included as letter 85 that of 7 February 1600, in which he had congratulated Schoppius on his ‘conversion’ to Roman Catholicism and in which he had equally advised Schoppius not to sharpen his pen too much—the letter where (as we have already seen) he argued that not in writing polemical letters and treatises but in adopting modesty and love, Schoppius would attract rather than put off his old Protestant friends. In an ingenious way, Lipsius both demonstrated his programme of tolerance in religious matters—an issue which had been questioned since the publication of his Politica in 158958—and his own position concerning the Protestants. In advocating tolerance, he not only appealed for a tolerant position regarding them, but also admitted the possibility that they may return to the True Faith. 59 That is the reason why he, a true Christian soldier, acted without violence or arrogance, without theological quibbling or theoretical dispute. In such living of an exemplary Christian life of love and openness, the Roman Church would be more victorious. It cannot but be regretted that Schoppius—who in some ways always remained part of the old world of humanism and religious uncertainty, and in others was a maverick convinced of Ramism and Macchiavellianism60—never really mirrored this aspect of Lipsius.

57 ILE 13, 00 12 31 B. On Federico Borromeo, Lipsius and the Centuria ad Italos et Hispanos, see J. Papy, ‘ Italiam vestram amo supra omnes terras ! Lipsius’ Attitude towards Italy and the Italian Humanism of the late 16th Century’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 47 (1998), 245–277, and F. Buzzi and R. Ferro (eds), Federico Borromeo fondatore della Biblioteca Ambrosiana. Atti delle giornate di studio 25–27 novembre 2004, Studia Borromaica 19 (Milan-Rome 2005). 58 See the introductory chapter on the reception of Lipsius’s Politica in the modern critical edition: Justus Lipsius. Politica. Six Books of Politics or Political Instruction . Edited, with translation and introduction by J. Waszink, Bibliotheca Latinitatis Novae 5 (Assen 2004), 114–127. 59 On Lipsius’s ‘public’ appeal to Philip II for a truce with the Northern Provinces, see N. Mout, ‘Justus Lipsius between War and Peace. His Public Letter on Spanish Foreign Policy and the Respective Merits of War, Peace or Truce (1595)’, in J. Pollmann and A. Spicer (eds), Public Opinion and Changing Identities in the Early Modern Netherlands. Essays in Honour of Alastair Duke , Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions 121 (Leiden-Boston 2007), 141–162. 60 R. Bireley, The Counter-Reformation Prince: Anti-Machiavellianism or Catholic Statecraft in Early Modern Europe (Chapel Hill-London 1990), 24; D’Addio, Il pensiero politico di Gaspare Scioppio , 562.

THE LIMITS OF TRANSCONFESSIONAL CONTACT IN THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS AROUND 1600: SCALIGER, CASAUBON, AND THEIR CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENTS* Dirk van Miert (London—The Hague) Sed adhuc res odio religionis infecta .1

Extending the paradigm of confessionalisation Ever since the paradigm of ‘confessionalisation’ was launched by Heinz Schilling in 1981 as a thesis explaining Germany’s transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern period, the term has been used to indicate a religious, cultural, political and social transformation which coincided (and sometimes conflicted) with the formation of the early modern state. In this context, the paradigm has proved a productive concept.2 One of the segments of society which has recently attracted attention in the light of the influence of confessional change and conscious confessional policy, is the world of learning. As confessionalisation involves conscious control, shaping a disciplined society of subjects, it implies that there is a formal structure of power capable of exercising control. In the realm of learning, the

* Some material in this article was delivered at the 2006 Conference of the International Association of Neo-Latin Studies . I thank people in the audience, notably Arnoud Visser, for their useful suggestions. A much smaller version of this article has been published under the title ‘José Justo Escalígero (1540–1609): los contactos católicos de un erudito calvinista’, in Revista de Historiografía 11, VI (2/2009), 87–93. I am greatly indebted to Paul Botley for his numerous suggestions to improve my English, and to Jeanine De Landtsheer and, especially, Henk Nellen for their many suggestions. Of course, I am responsible for all mistakes myself. 1 Casaubon (Paris) to Scaliger ([Leiden]), 1 October 1600, in: I. Casaubon, Epistolae, insertis ad easdem responsionibus, quotquot hactenus reperiri potuerunt, secundum seriem temporis accurate digestae [. . .]. Curante Theodoro Ianson[io] ab Almeloveen (Rotterdam 1709), 111. 2 For an overview of the debate which Schilling opened, see T.A. Brady Jr, ‘Confessionalization—The Career of a Concept’, in J.M. Headley, H.J. Hillerbrand, and A.J. Papalas (eds), Confessionalization in Europe, 1555–1700. Essays in Honor and Memory of Bodo Nischan (Burlington 2004), 1–20 (esp. p. 4).

368

dirk van miert

obvious formal structures are schools and universities. A small example will suffice to illustrate the importance of the institutional setting. On 10 August 1598, the board of curators of Leiden University listened to the complaints of Paullus Merula, professor of history: his students were in the habit of writing and publishing poems which ‘touched upon the commonwealth, or criticized the king of Spain, the cardinal of Austria or other mighty enemies and even neutral rulers. And [these poems] were for him too odious or too daring to endorse and subscribe.’ Merula requested to be relieved of his task of authorising these poems, which caused him much hatred from the students. In response, the curators resolved ‘that no poems will be allowed to be published which mention the state of the country or concern the dishonour of certain persons, be it friends or enemies of the country.’ 3 Clearly, the university could play a crucial role in exercising control. Censoring students was but one aspect of control. A more important one was the prescription of a certain curriculum. In Germany, the educational setting recently has been taken up as a field of study, working from the paradigm of confessionalisation. 4 3 P.C. Molhuysen, Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit (The Hague 1913–1924), 1, 114: ‘Verclarende vorder de voors. Merula, dat hy nu enige jaeren hadde gehadt den last omme te visiteren die carmina, die de studenten deden drucken ende veel tijts gebeurden dat enige van hen sich onderstonden te maecken enich carmen raeckende de gemeene saecke ofte daer by gerestringeert worden den coninck van Spaengien, den cardinael van Oostenrijck [= Albert of Austria] off ander potentaten wesende onse vianden oft oock neutrale ende dat voor hem te odieus ofte te vermetel soude sijn tzelve te approberen ofte onderschrijven [. . .]. Soo is geresolveert dat geen carmina sullen worden toegelaten uyt te gaen maeckende mentie van den staet vant lant ofte aengaende die oneere van eenige personagien t zy dan off deselve sijn des landts vrunden ofte vianden.’ 4 H.J. Selderhuis and M. Wriedt (eds), Bildung und Konfession: Theologenausbildung im Zeitalter der Konfessionalisierung (Tübingen 2006); H. Schilling, S. Ehrenpreis, and S. Moesch (eds), Frühneuzeitliche Bildungsgeschichte der Reformierten in konfessionsvergleichender Perspektive. Schulwesen, Lesekultur und Wissenschaft (Berlin 2007), which also contains some articles on schools and universities in the Dutch Republic. For a recent case study of Amsterdam, see P.J. Knegtmans and P. van Rooden (eds), Theologen in ondertal. Godgeleerdheid, godsdienstwetenschap, het Athenaeum Illustre en de Universiteit van Amsterdam (Zoetermeer 2003). See also H. Schilling and I. Tóth (eds), Religion and Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge 2005), ‘vol. I of a four-volume European Science Foundation (ESF) series edited by R. Muchembled and W. Monter on “Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Europe” ’ (cited after H. Schilling, ‘Confessionalization: Historical and Scholarly Perspectives of a Comparative and Interdisciplinary Paradigm’, in: Headley—Hillerbrand—Papalas, Confessionalization in Europe, 21–36 (esp. p. 33, n. 24, where the second title in the present footnote (Berlin 2007) is given in different words and as printed in ‘Göttingen 2004’).

the limits of transconfessional contact

369

In the context of learning, the ‘Republic of Letters’ suggests at least an extension or even an alternative to schools and universities by its very use of the word ‘res publica’, which in the early modern period could be understood in its general Roman sense of ‘state’, ‘Staat’ or ‘état’, but also in the more specific meaning of a non-absolute state. From the viewpoint of confessionalisation, the ‘Republic of Letters’ promises, because of its very metaphor, to offer an interesting transposition of the study of confessionalisation in relation with the early modern ‘state’ to its study in relation with the scholarly world. However, the association between the nation state and the Republic of Letters is merely prompted on the lexical level. The Republic of Letters was a metaphor used by contemporary scholars to denote the multilayered structure of interconnected formal and informal networks they worked in. The community of scholars and the universities coincided to a certain extent, but those operating outside the university maintained some degree of independence. 5 As the word res publica (‘commonwealth’, or, as in the Dutch example quoted in note 3, ‘gemeene saecke’) stood for common or shared interest, it was only natural that exchange or communication was one of the structuring principles within the scholarly world. This principle has been well studied for different periods in time by Habermas, Bots, Waquet, Fumaroli, Goldgar, Miller, Furey and others. 6 To paraphrase Jaumann, communicatio functioned in a context of concepts asbenevolentia, benignitas, magnanimitas, facilitas, familiaritas, consuetudo, observantia, 5 Cf. W. Frijhoff, ‘L’université à l’époque moderne, XVIe–XVIIe siècles. Réflexions sur son histoire et sur la façon de l’écrire’, in P. Hurtubise (ed.), Université, Église, Culture. L’université catholique à l’époque moderne de la Réforme à la Révolution, XVI ème– XVIIIème siècles. Actes du Troisième Symposium Universidad Iberoamericana, México, 30 avril–3 mai 2003 (Paris 2005), 11–35 (esp. p. 33–34). 6 J. Habermas, Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit. Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft (Neuwied am Rhein-Berlin 1962); J.A.H.G.M. Bots, Republiek der Letteren. Ideaal en werkelijkheid (Amsterdam 1977); M. Fumaroli, ‘The Republic of Letters’, in Diogenes 143 (1988), 129–154; H. Bots and F. Waquet (eds), Commercium Litterarium. La Communication dans la République des Lettres. Forms of Communication in the Republic of Letters, 1600–1750 (Amsterdam-Maarssen 1994); A. Goldgar, Impolite Learning. Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters, 1680–1750 (New Haven-London 1995); H. Bots and F. Waquet, La République des Lettres ([Paris] 1997); P.N. Miller, Pereisc’s Europe. Learning and Virtue in the Seventeenth Century (New Haven-London 2000); M. Sebök (ed.), Republic of Letters, Humanism, Humanities. Selected papers of the workshop held at the Collegium Budapest in cooperation with NIAS between November 25 and 28, 1999 (Budapest 2005); C.M. Furey, Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters (Cambridge 2005).

370

dirk van miert

amicitia and humanitas. ‘Humanitas’, which means as much as love for the bonae litterae, shares connotations with the Greek paideia as the educational idea of mental accomplishment by training. ‘Humanitas’ therefore implies striving to development and perfection by means of exchange.7 In this context, one of the few material realities of the res publica litteraria, the letter, acquires its meaning and gains its significance as a means to exchange knowledge. 8 Although the Republic of Letters as a metaphor for the ideal of communication remained after the Reformation, the cracks in the medieval perception of possible or even actual universality undermined the faith that the ideal could be realised. Gradually, religious factions started to pervade the internal structures of the Republic of Letters, crystallizing into clusters which the ever-present potential internal divides over professional, political or religious matters, forced to split along confessional boundaries. As a Catholic professor in Paris said about Scaliger: ‘Had he fostered a pious opinion about the Catholic faith, I would have declared that no one has had a better hand at Varro and Caesar or was more capable in every branch of literary studies.’ 9 These words clearly indicate how confessional divisions cut through the Republic of Letters, even if scholars on both sides of the divide agreed on scholarly matters. Although scholars in the first half of the seventeenth century, such as Hugo Grotius, Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc and Gerardus Joannes Vossius, maintained a vast international correspondence with colleagues from various religious backgrounds, reaching beyond the minimal exigencies of epistolary rhetoric, 10 religious differences hampered the exchange of arguments about the truth Aulus Gellius translates ‘paideia’ as ‘humanitas’ in Noctes Atticae 13, 16. H. Jaumann, ‘Gibt es eine katholische Respublica litteraria? Zum problematischen Konzept der Gelehrtenrepublik in der frühen Neuzeit’, in Idem (ed.), Kaspar Schoppe (1576–1649). Philologe im Dienste der Gegenreformation (Zeitsprünge. Forschungen zur Frühen Neuzeit, K. Reichert (ed.), 2 (1998), Heft 3/4) (Frankfurt am Main 1998), 361–371 (esp. p. 366). 9 ‘Si pie de fide Catholica sensisset, nullum a Varrone et Iulio Cesare felicius aut omnium literarum capacius ingenium fuisse pronuntiarem’—Julius Caesar Bulengerus, Sorbonae Doctor, cited in Paulus Colomesius, Gallia Orientalis (The Hague 1665), 132. 10 On Grotius, see H. Nellen, Hugo de Groot. Een leven in strijd om de vrede, 1583–1645 (Amsterdam 2007); on Peiresc, see P.N. Miller, Peiresc’s Europe: Learning and Virtue in the Seventeenth Century (New Haven-London 2000); on Vossius, see C.S.M. Rademaker, Leven en werk van Gerardus Joannes Vossius, 1577–1649 (Hilversum 1999), and the excellent article by A. Schubert, ‘Kommunikation und Konkurrenz. Gelehrtenrepublik und Konfession im 17. Jahrhundert’, in K. von Greyerz et al. (eds), 7 8

the limits of transconfessional contact

371

of religion: the exchange of knowledge across religious boundaries confined itself largely to exchange in the seemingly neutral territories of scholarship. After the 1560s, when confessional differences were codified,11 the ideal of unity came to be increasingly problematic and gave way to an ideal of intellectual freedom, as an alternative to the real state. Such freedom would offer the opportunity of peaceful exchange of knowledge, according to ethics of conduct which transgressed the limits set on communication between the different confessions in or between the real states. The Republic of Letters was thus presented as a neutral body, which stood above political and confessional loyalties. This idealistic image was especially fostered in the Protestant world of learning, as to distance itself from the Catholic world of learning. 12 Both the ideal and the Protestant character of this idealism have been echoed by twentieth century scholarship, particularly by scholars of a Protestant background themselves, who liked to ascribe to many humanists, and especially to Protestant humanists, an ideal of ‘tolerance’. The humanists have been presented as the ‘third power’ in society: an Erasmian, irenicist and transconfessional layer which constantly debated and discussed religious truth. 13 This ability for dialogue would have been mirrored by the dialogue as the favourite literary form of the humanists, exemplified in the writings of Lipsius: understanding the dialogue is to be able to understand different opinions, to accommodate them and to cope with them. In this interpretation, the dialogue is not only a literary form, but also a sign of a particular philosophical attitude: ‘Dialogfähigkeit’. 14 Others, on the contrary, have argued that the humanists tended to avoid the issue of confession, rather than Interkonfessionalität, Transkonfessionalität, binnenkonfessionelle Pluralität. Neue Forschungen zur Konfessionalisierungsthese (Heidelberg 2003), 105–131. 11 The 1560s witnessed the outcome of the Council of Trent, the establishment of the unity of Lutheran doctrine in the German lands, the Confessio Helvetica posterior, and the Confessio Belgica. 12 Jaumann, ‘Gibt es eine katholische Respublica litteraria?’, 361–379 (esp. p. 373– 374 and 377). 13 See, e.g., W. Ruëgg, ‘Chapter 1: Themes’, in: H. de Ridder-Symoens (ed.), A History of the University in Europe 2: Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500–1800) (Cambridge 1996), 3–42 (esp. p. 27). For the end of the seventeenth century, see, e.g., H. Bots, ‘L’esprit de la République des Lettres et la tolérance dans les trois premiers périodiques savants hollandais’, in XVIIe siècle 116 (1977), 43–57 (esp. p. 53–54). 14 A.E. Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik. Die europäische Gelehrtenrepublik um 1600 im Spiegel der Korrespondenzen Georg Michael Lingelsheims (Tübingen 2004), 20; Schubert, ‘Kommunikation und Konkurrenz’, 106.

372

dirk van miert

to address and to discuss it with scholars of other confessions. 15 The implication is that tolerance was not the outcome of a consciously implemented ideology, but rather a practical solution of religious co-existence in order to avoid problems. 16 This last interpretation is supported by the present analysis of the correspondence networks of Scaliger and Casaubon. The study of confessionalisation in relation to the Republic of Letters is not new, although it has been examined only in the more loosely formulated terms of the relationship between humanism and Protestantism. As said, the Republic of Letters is usually, but often unconsciously, seen as a Protestant one. Frijhoff argued that it has become part of ‘our mental map’ to identify the progress of sciences with Northern European Universities. 17 Furey speaks of ‘the enduring assumption that intellectual energy flowed northward over the course of the Renaissance—that the classical humanism revived by Italians was Christianized and revitalized in the Northern Renaissance.’ 18 This identification of the Protestant bias has given rise to the question whether there was such a thing as a Catholic Republic of Letters. 19 This development echoes on a small scale the discussion in the past two decades, initiated by Reinhard, of a Catholic confessionalisation as a reaction to the generally perceived Protestant character of the paradigm of confessionalisation as launched by Schilling. 20 Most studies of the relationship between humanism and religion question until what extent humanism anticipated and stimulated the Reformation.21 Rummel turned the question around and asked

See, e.g., A. Grafton, ‘Kaspar Schoppe and the Art of Textual Criticism’, in Jaumann (ed.), Kaspar Schoppe, 231–243 (esp. p. 243). For the situation at the end of the seventeenth century, see Goldgar, Impolite Learning, 186. 16 ‘Toleranz sollte eigentlich eine vorübergehende Gesinnung sein: sie muss zur Anerkennung führen. Dulden heisst beleidigen’, as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote (Maximen und Reflexionen, Werke 12 (Munich 1973). Cited thus by J. Schillings, ‘ “Het oord van tolerantie”, bewegingen van een geleerde plaats’, in G. van Gemert et al. (eds), Orbis Doctus, 1500–1850. Perspectieven op de geleerde wereld van Europa: plaatsen en personen. Opstellen aangeboden aan professor dr. J.A.H. Bots (AmsterdamUtrecht 2005), 219–236 (esp. p. 219). 17 Frijhoff, ‘L’université à l’époque moderne’, 12. 18 Furey, Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters , 7. 19 Jaumann, ‘Gibt es eine katholische Respublica litteraria? ’, 375; Furey, Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters . 20 Brady, ‘Confessionalization’, 7–11. 21 See the overview of this debate by C. d’Alton, ‘Renaissance Humanism and the Reformation’, in A. Ryrie (ed.), Palgrave Advances in the European Reformations (Basingstoke-New York 2006), 149–168. 15

the limits of transconfessional contact

373

how the Reformation affected humanism. She dealt with the 1520s and 1530s and showed how the humanist techniques of arguing in utramque partem were dismissed as opportunistic. Nicodemism was associated with humanist principles of doubt and therefore equally condemned. As such, humanism was crushed between the religious fronts. In the epilogue of her book, however, she supposed, on the basis of the example of Lipsius’s shifting confessional allegiances, that tensions between confessions were less strong in the second half of the sixteenth century. 22 The present article is partly inspired by that suggestion. For although there is probably truth in Rummel’s remark that the radical spirit had decreased and humanism learnt to function within a controlled sphere, it remains to be demonstrated that Lipsius was representative of a larger contingent of humanists. True enough, when the Flemish scholar died, his Leiden admirers responded to the initiative of Lipsius’s former student Johannes Woverius, a Catholic from Antwerp, and compiled a volume of funeral poetry. 23 Scholars like Scaliger, Grotius, Heinsius and Baudius contributed to it. But Lipsius’s inconstancy was not taken lightly by his contemporaries. His emphatically Catholic treatises on Marian miracles provoked outcries of indignation amongst his Protestant friends. In Leiden, Heidelberg and Altdorf, the anonymous authorship of a Dissertation against Lipsius’s treatise on the Holy Virgin of Halle was much debated. According to a number of his Protestant colleagues, Lipsius was clearly a confessional traitor. These attacks on Lipsius as a ‘Nestbeschmutzer’, a degrader of his own Republic of Letters, underline that the Republic of Letters was by many Protestant scholars appropriated as a Protestant community. Thus, the author of the Dissertatio against Lipsius’s Marian treatise (probably the Heidelberg scholar Petrus Denaisius) tried to claim the Republic of Letters for Protestantism. Not only did the external world invade the borders of the Republic of Letters, but its citizens also actively adopted confessional positions and fended off other confessions. Lipsius’s great contemporary Joseph Scaliger left no doubt as to where he stood. 24 Isaac Casaubon, the third man in the intellectual ‘triumvirate’ of the Republic of Letters, indeed knew how to adjust, 22 E. Rummel, The Confessionalization of Humanism in Reformation Germany (Oxford 2000), 151. 23 Woverius is not to be confused with his better known name-sake, the Protestant philologist from Hamburg. 24 See also Jaumann, ‘Gibt es eine katholische Respublica litteraria?’, 375.

374

dirk van miert

Fig. 21. Jan de Leeuw, Portrait of Josephus Justus Scaliger , engraving, s.a. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. Singer 26.874

the limits of transconfessional contact

375

but suffered much pain from that compromise.25 Eventually, after the murder on Henry IV, tensions rose so high that Casaubon left his country in 1610, something which Scaliger had already done seventeen years earlier. Clearly, confessional difference had a strong impact on scholars. Measures from above limited their freedom to gain patronage. In the Tridentine era, a Catholic scholar like Hadrianus Junius, to mention but one example, was suddenly confronted with seeing his books on the Index because he had dedicated one work to the Protestant King Edward VI decades earlier, addressing him as ‘supreme head of the church’. 26 In an ever more polarised world, scholars had to make up their minds and choose sides. In response, some scholars tried to turn their back on the antagonism and sought relief in sects such as the Family of Love. But the contribution by Antonio Dávila Pérez in the present volume reinforces Valkema Blouw’s warning not to overestimate the spread of this sect. 27 Most scholars in the decades around 1600 tended to remain silent about theological issues. It would be a projection of enlightened ideas to see this as the result of a positive ideal: the neutrality of scholarship as the sole place to maintain peace and unity. Rather, it seems to have had a practical advantage: not running the risk of getting entangled in controversy. But it would go too far to interpret this practicality as opportunism: many scholars remained steadfast in their religious beliefs and did not compromise or alter their affiliations. And even if they did, it would not necessarily indicate an act of opportunism. Some scholars might certainly have had serious doubts about their own faiths and respect for the theological interpretations of rival confessions: the confessional lines were not as clearly drawn in society as in the books (and even in books there was, at least in some periods, room for discussion, as the argument between Franciscus Gomarus and Jacobus Arminius, both members of the Calvinist Public Church, 25 For the term ‘triumvirate’, see M.L.C. Nisard, Le triumvirat littéraire au XVI e siècle: Juste Lipse, Joseph Scaliger et Isaac Casaubon (Paris 1852); for an approach which challenges the underlying notion of men dominating the Republic of Letters, see Furey, Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters , who takes into account Vittoria Colonna and Margaret More Roper. For a reassessment of the late Republic of Letters in this light, see D. Goodman, The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment (Ithaca 1994). 26 D. van Miert, ‘The religious beliefs of Hadrianus Junius (1511–1575)’, in R. Schnur (ed.), Acta Conventus Neolatini Cantabrigiensis, Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Neo-Latin Studies (Tempe, Ar. 2003), 583–594. 27 P. Valkema Blouw, ‘Was Plantin a member of the Family of Love? Notes on his dealings with Hendrik Niclaes’, in Quaerendo 23/1 (1993), 3–23.

376

dirk van miert

shows). Generalisation remains difficult and is often based on an accumulation of impressions drawn from qualitative studies of individual humanists. After some scholars have drawn certain conclusions, it is always easy for others to come up with opposite cases and examples, as the contributions in the present volume demonstrate. To make possible a more complete picture, one must compare a large number of humanists, both first class and second rate, of several confessions and in several countries, in order to make clear the options available and different patterns of conduct which co-existed. To contribute to building up evidence for such a comparison, I will analyse here the position and contacts of two of the most important scholars—if not the most important scholars—in the Republic of Letters around 1600: Joseph Scaliger and Isaac Casaubon. The period covered will be limited to the years from 1590 to 1610. This was a crucial period in the history of confessionalisation within the Republic of Letters, for it followed on the conclusion of the Council of Trent and the codification of a number of Protestant denominations. Not only are Scaliger and Casaubon and the times they lived in crucial, but the places were they resided were also of paramount importance: Leiden and Paris, two major centres of learning in Europe. 28 Both these centres of learning played a pivotal role in the process of the building of the nation state. In the case of Leiden, this was the Dutch Republic, somewhat unexpectedly brought about by the Dutch Revolt as an independent republic. In the case of Paris, this was the French absolute state, which was to bring France back to the stage of European politics after the religious wars. In order to allow a sharper focus on the differences and the similarities of the situations in which these two scholars lived and worked, a comparative approach will be adopted. First, Leiden and Paris will be compared. Second, Scaliger will be introduced biographically, in the light of his religious history. The ‘transconfessional contacts’ in his correspondence will be analysed quantitatively, because the quantitative evidence in conclusions about patterns in the conduct of individual humanists is usually rather limited. To modify the figures in a more qualitative way, a number of examples from Scaliger’s life

28 A. Grafton, ‘The World of the Polyhistors: Humanism and Encyclopedism’, in Central European History 18 (1985), 31–47 (esp. p. 41: ‘such capital cities of the Respublica litterarum as Leiden or Paris’).

the limits of transconfessional contact

377

relating to transconfessional contact will be discussed. The same procedure will then be applied to Casaubon. Finally, a concluding comparison will be made. Capital cities of the ‘Republic of Letters’: Paris and Leiden The political situation had an immense impact on the learned life: the wars hampered travelling through France, the Southern Netherlands and Germany. Hence, the seventeenth century Republic of Letters was characterised not so much by ‘wandering scholars’ like Erasmus, but rather by geographical ‘pockets’: groups and circles of scholars in a particular city.29 Those who travelled for reasons of learning would choose their goal so as to be introduced to these groups and their scholarly resources. The two main ‘circles’ or regional entities north of the Alps were Paris and Leiden. But they show a vast array of differences. France was riven with political disasters during the religious wars. Not much was left of the splendour of the University of Paris. The most talented and learned people were nevertheless to be found in the French capital, centred around the Parlement. In the aftermath of the wars, these scholars, Catholics but not supportive of Rome’s policies, had a clear idea of how the future French state must be like: the monarchy had to unify the whole country. This implied that the state had power over the church and that Protestantism would, for the time being, be tolerated. Most scholars in Leiden found themselves in a rather different socio-political context. In the first place they were not involved in active politics; they provided for themselves not by being an avocat or conseiller but by holding an academic post. Neither were they forced, as in the German Empire, to accommodate themselves to an aristocratic court culture, in which there was increasing competition between nobility and the new bourgeoisie. 30 Leiden was a new university, vital and energetic, completely unlike that of Paris. It managed to attract from abroad the most prestigious scholars of the time, something which the University of Paris was incapable of. Scholars in Leiden, especially when it became clear in the course of the 1580s that the rebellious provinces of the north would 29 30

For Germany, see Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik, 6. Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik, 31.

378

dirk van miert

Fig. 22. Josephus Justus Scaliger, Letter to Justus Lipsius (12 February 1577). Leiden University Library, ms. Lips. 4 (S)

the limits of transconfessional contact

379

form a federation rather than an absolute state, were much concerned with questions of state building. The popularity of Lipsius’s Politica proves the point. But at the same time, they could distance themselves from the vita activa and concentrate on their scholarly publications. 31 A professor at Leiden University could more easily disengage himself from the political situation than a scholar in France, where the shadows of the recent wars and, above all, of the St Bartholomew Day’s massacre (1572), loomed over the Huguenots in the last decade of the century. The outcome of the war certainly did not leave Scaliger and Casaubon unaffected. Joseph Scaliger According to a forgotten Bohemian poet, Joseph Scaliger was the greatest scholar of his time: Lipsius is great; greater than him is Casaubon. But the greatest of them all is that man Scaliger!

32

Scaliger was born in 1540 to Julius Caesar Scaliger, an Italian scholar who died as a Catholic in France in 1558. Scaliger converted to Calvinism four years later. Scaliger’s conversion may have been a more gradual process than has hitherto been assumed. He claimed to have attended mass for the last time in 1565, but as this was in Saint Peter’s in Rome, he might have witnessed the mass out of mere curiosity, as Protestants travelling to Italy often did,33 rather than celebrated it, marking the definite end of a slow process of conversion with a 31 It has been argued that especially the ‘Dutch’ late humanist tradition was characterized by the vita activa of the scholars. The ground for this particular outlook of Dutch seventeenth-century humanism was led by Lipsius and his Politica. Nonetheless, it should be noted that Lipsius was in Leiden only for a relatively short period, from 1578–1591. His successor Scaliger avoided the vita activa and paid little interest to political theory. In stead, he focused on editorial work. Scaliger’s student Daniel Heinsius did some secretarial work during the Synod of Dordrecht (1618–1619), but his involvement remained rather limited. Scaliger’s other student, the great Hugo Grotius, was indeed active outside the university, but was never professionally attached to Leiden University. All other students of Scaliger were professional scholars, with hardly any vita activa outside the university. 32 ‘Lipsius est magnus, maior Casaubonus illo; / Maximus hos inter Scaliger ille vir est!’ Paullus a Gisbice, Schediasmatum Farrago nova. Nuper in Itinere Belgico pleraque ut sub manu nata, ita foras quasi gustu data (Leiden 1602), 60. 33 A. Frank-Van Westrienen, De Groote Tour. Tekening van de educatiereis der Nederlanders in de zeventiende eeuw (Amsterdam 1983), 290–291.

380

dirk van miert

symbolic farewell action. It is not clear from his words whether he actually received communion. 34 In 1562, the same year in which he took or started to take catechisation, he came into the service of the Catholic nobleman, diplomat and military commander Louis Chasteigner de La Roche-Posay, seigneur d’Abain. It was also the year in which the first war broke out in a series of religious ‘troubles’ which would vex France for the rest of the century. Surprisingly, the hostilities between Huguenots and Catholics seem not to have affected the relation between Scaliger and Chasteigner, in spite of the fact that the latter was actively involved in military campaigns against the confessional peers of the former. For Scaliger the obvious advantage of his relation with Chasteigner was that he was assured of an income and could reside at well defended places, such as the castles of Chasteigner in the Poitou, in mid-west France. He was not only the protégé of a politically important Catholic, he was also in the company of a nobleman, that is: an equal. For Scaliger was convinced, or at least seemed to be convinced, that he himself was a nobleman too, a descendant of the Della Scala family, who had once ruled Verona. In short: Chasteigner offered Scaliger economic certainty, physical safety, social standing, and the opportunity to pursue his studies. Thus, in spite of the different factions, there is no evidence that the relationship between Scaliger and Chasteigner, upheld during the terrible years of war, was unstable. 35 The apparently good relation between Scaliger and Chasteigner did not fundamentally change after the wars were over: even after Scaliger had moved to the Calvinist stronghold of the University of Leiden in 1593, Chasteigner wrote him friendly letters, of which nine survive. Paradoxically, it was not the war, but the political peace which divided them geographically. During the wars of religion, the parties did not have the time to be concerned with the world of learning. It 34 The evidence that Scaliger decided to convert to Calvinism in 1562 (J. Bernays, Joseph Justus Scaliger (Berlin 1855), 36–37; A. Grafton, Joseph Justus Scaliger. A Study in the History of Classical Scholarship 1: Textual Criticism and Exegesis (OxfordLondon 1983), 104) is based on a passage in the Scaligerana (Cologne 1695), 353 (s.v. ‘Joseph Scaliger’): ‘Il avoit 22 ans, quand il fut cathechisé par Monsieur [Antoine la Roche] de Chandieu et par Monsieur [Matthieu] Viret.’ However, Scaliger is recorded to have said that he went to mass in Rome in 1565 or 1566: ‘Il y a 40 ans que j’ay ouy la derniere Messe à Rome’ (355). I owe this last observation to Paul Botley, co-editor of the complete correspondence of Scaliger. 35 As only one letter from Scaliger to Chasteigner, from 1564, survives, the evidence does not allow to rule out with certainty that there were irritations or difficulties.

the limits of transconfessional contact

381

was only in the 1590s that the monarchy came to value learning as one of the constituting factors in the establishment of power—something which was acknowledged equally by the Northern provinces in the Low Countries during the first phase of their revolt against Spain, with the establishment of the University of Leiden in 1575. In post-war France, the Huguenots formed such a minority that the Protestant pretender Henri Navarre could not inherit the French crown before he had converted to Catholicism. This happened on 25 July 1593, the very day that Joseph Scaliger wrote his last letter from France.36 A month later, he was in Leiden. Scaliger’s motives were clear: he wanted financial security and more time for study. He negotiated a princely salary for himself, in exchange for which he merely had to reside in Leiden as the ‘decus Academiae’, without any obligation to teach. These advantages may or may not have been more important than the escape from the disadvantages prompted by the religious reality of the French society, where the Catholic Church tried to secure its influence on public and private life. Scaliger feared the politics of Catholic confessionalisation. He knew that in France he would have had to reckon with political factions, with the crown, and above all with two Catholic groups: the Gallicans, who would have been patiently but incessantly waiting for him to convert, and the Ultramontanists, who would have adopted more pressing strategies. He himself warned Casaubon that his friend was too great a Protestant scholar to be left alone in Paris.37 On an other occasion,

36 Scaliger ([Tours? ]) to Pierre Pithou ([Paris]), dated: ‘Ce dimanche 25 du mois que le Roi est allé à la messe 1593’ (Ph. Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Lettres françaises inédites de Joseph Scaliger (Agen-Paris 1879), 298). 37 Scaliger (Leiden) to Casaubon (Paris), 29 April 1600 (Autograph: Paris, BNF, coll. Dupuy, ms. 394 ter, fol. 30r; manuscript copy: London, Brit. Lib. Burn. 366, fol. 90r; printed in Daniel Heinsius (ed.), Iosephi Scaligeri Epistolae (Leiden 1627), 178): ‘Nam frustra optaveris illud ignobile otium quod omnes μουσοπάτακτοι appetunt. Hoc non sinit neque tui nominis, neque illius loci, ubi degis, celebritas. Nam ἐν πλοίῳ πεσὼν θᾶττον ἁμαρτάνοις τοῦ ξύλου, quam ut cum otio aut ignorabilis vivas. Neque tam abstrusum est musaeum in quod te abdere paras, ex quo te non exciat strepitus et concursus amatorum tuorum. De crabronibus ita statuas non nocere nisi irritatos, strepitum autem aut βόμβον neminem unquam laesisse. Consilium vero laudo de familia relicta, nam melius interea e specula mutationes animorum Gallicanorum intueri quam te summamque rerum tuarum tempestatibus horum ingeniorum credere. Eiusmodi sunt: facile accenduntur et facilius tepescunt. Quare ἁψικορίαν illam solum vereor, cui te in dies imminere oportet, ne te imparatum opprimat. Sed τὸ θεῖον ἡμῶν βέλτιον βουλεύσεται et ita spero.’ For the curtailment which Casaubon suffered in Paris in the decade 1600–1610, see M. Pattison, Isaac Casaubon 1559–1614,

382

dirk van miert

he writes that he is glad that God permitted him to be in Leiden. He would have liked to spend his last days in France, but as long as Jesuits and bishops who sympathized with the Spanish cause ‘ruled supreme’ in France, he preferred to remain in Holland. 38 It is clear that Scaliger believed that, if he had stayed in France, he would have had to watch his words, to secure his letters, and to hide certain opinions. This would have been unpleasant for any Protestant, but for someone like Scaliger, who had a frank and obstinate character, it would have been unbearable. At Leiden, in contrast, he suffered no interference from the state in pursuing his studies and in corresponding with scholars from a range of different religious denominations. Scaliger’s new Calvinist environment, which was geographically closer to other Protestant regions and politically associated with them, naturally pulled him into the hemisphere of northern Protestant latehumanism.39 Thus, in Leiden, Joseph Scaliger extended his already vast network of correspondents, drawing in new contacts from the Northern Low Countries, the German Empire and Britain. Many of his Dutch contacts may not have left written traces, as those who lived in Leiden could more easily be addressed in conversation. 40 To date, 230 correspondents have been distinguished, excluding Scaliger himself. The religious affiliations of each of these have been second edition (Oxford 1892), 135–156, 163–196, 207–225, 245–246. Casaubon’s position is discussed below. 38 Scaliger (Leiden) to Jacques-Auguste de Thou (Paris), 9 October 1599 (Autograph: Paris, BNF, coll. Dupuy, ms. 838, fol. 43r; printed in Tamizey de Larroque, Lettres françaises, 326-327 (esp. p. 327)): ‘Dieu nous a faict une grande misericorde de nous avoir appellés ici, où nous n’avons aulcune occasion de nous y fascher. Toutefois j’estimerois beaucoup si je pouvois finir mes jours en mon petit nid de vieillesse. Mais d’autant que les Loiolites et les Evesques Espagnolisés y commandent à baguette, je quitte le parti, et atten’ la grace de Dieu en ce pais.’ 39 About the term ‘late humanism’ (Späthumanismus) there is an extensive literature, especially in Germany. See Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik , and G. Walther, ‘Humanismus und Konfession’, in: N. Hammerstein and G. Walther (eds), Späthumanismus. Studien über das Ende einer kulturhistorischen Epoche (Göttingen 2000), 113–127. 40 Casaubon’s letters to Jacques August de Thou and other Parisians, however, point out that being inhabitants of the same city did not necessarily imply that one could do without communicating by means of letters. Nevertheless, those who not only shared an urban but also an institutional environment, such as colleagues at a university, tended to correspond less with each other. See for example the case of Gerard Vossius and Caspar Barlaeus, who do not seem to have exchanged any letters when both held posts as professors in Amsterdam in the period 1632–1648 and lived there next to each other. See G.A.C. van der Lem and C.S.M. Rademaker, Inventory of the Correspondence of Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577–1649) (Assen-Maastricht 1993), 445.

the limits of transconfessional contact

383

assessed. A small number of correspondents is notable for having converted during the period of their contact with Scaliger, as did Justus Lipsius. Lipsius, however, seems to be rather exceptional in his shifting between Catholicism, Lutheranism and Calvinism. He is regarded here as a Catholic, the faith to which he was born and in which he died. For a more detailed motivation of my choices, the names of the individual correspondents, their affiliations and the number of letters they wrote, see Appendix 1. Table 1. Absolute and relative proportions of religious affiliations of Scaliger’s correspondents Protestants

Catholics

Unknown

Total people

95 (41.3 %)

73 (31.7 %)

62 (27 %)

230

For more than a quarter of the correspondents, the lack of biographical details or direct evidence does not allow for identifying a particular religion. This seems a relatively large portion, but in the correspondence their significance is rather limited in comparison with the number of letters surviving from these correspondents, as the following table shows. Table 2. Absolute and relative proportions of letters exchanged with Scaliger, according to religious affiliations of the correspondent Protestants

Catholics

Unknown

Total letters

787 (47.64%)

719 (43.52 %)

146 (8.84 %)

1652

Table three points out that Scaliger corresponded, relatively speaking, more intensely with Catholics than with Protestants: Table 3. Average amount of letters per correspondent, according to religious affiliations of the correspondent Protestants 787 8.3 letters = 95 per corr.

Catholics

Unknown

719 9.8 letters = 73 per corr.

146 2.4 letters = 62 per corr.

Total no. average letters 1652 7.2 = 230 per corr.

384

dirk van miert

He exchanged an average of 9.8 letters per Catholic and 8.3 per Protestant. Those whose affiliations are undetermined, represent rather marginal contacts: an average of 2.4 letters. Many of the correspondents in this last category could not be found in the standard biographical dictionaries. Overall, it would appear that Scaliger corresponded more with Protestants than with Catholics, but more intensely with Catholics than with Protestants. In drawing this conclusion, however, a caveat is called for. It is not clear how representative the inventory of Scaliger’s correspondence is. In the case of Scaliger, 1652 items have been retrieved, but a large number of these we owe to a single source: the volume of 300 French letters addressed to Scaliger, edited by Jacobus Revius in 1624.41 No other sources for these letters have come to light. Had Revius never published this volume, the figures would have featured far fewer Catholics. On the other hand, it could also be argued that the 300 letters might have survived in manuscript (either autograph or copy) instead of having been destroyed, as seems to have happened. Indeed, maybe even more letters than the suspiciously round number of 300 would have survived. In other words, the contingency of the transmission of early modern letters weakens the trustworthiness of quantitative approaches. Nevertheless, the conclusion seems justified that Scaliger was indifferent to someone’s religious affiliation in choosing to correspond or not to correspond with that person. If, however, we look beyond the general categories of ‘Protestant’ and ‘Catholic’, as could occasionally be done in Appendix 1, it turns out that the Protestants included Lutherans, Orthodox Calvinists, more liberal Calvinists (Arminianism was just coming up way when Scaliger died), and Anglicans. The Catholics included Gallicans and former Protestants who had converted to Catholicism, but no Ultramontanists. There is the odd letter to or from a Jesuit, but Jesuits are not among Scaliger’s regular correspondents. Scaliger disliked Ultramontanists, especially after 1603, when people in the papal camp began to publish attacks against him. However important Scaliger’s preferences were in shaping his own network of correspondents, the political structures in the other camp

41 J. de Reves (ed.), Epistres françoises des personnages illustres et doctes, à Mons. Joseph Juste de La Scala (Harderwijk 1624).

the limits of transconfessional contact

385

also had an impact, as is illustrated by the following example. It concerns a letter, written in 1596 by the son of Scaliger’s former employer, young Henri Louis Chasteigner. This Chasteigner, a Catholic like his father, came to Leiden with Scaliger in 1593 and studied at the Calvinist university. He returned to his home country after a year and then travelled to Italy, where he was made a priest. He embarked on a successful career in Rome, was appointed chamberlain of the pope and later became bishop of Poitiers. 42 Chasteigner wrote to Scaliger from Rome, two years after his departure from Leiden. In his letter, he apologises for not having written to his respected former teacher for so long. He would have liked to have done so, but he was unable because his new ecclesiastical office strictly forbade communication with those outside the apostolic-Catholic Church of Rome. Without a licence to contact Scaliger, Chasteigner would have had seriously offended God—at least, as long as Scaliger held his current opinion. Chasteigner wished that all obstacles would be removed (that is, that Scaliger would convert) and tells that the great cardinal Cesare Baronio had ordered him to write to Scaliger, stating that he, Baronio, offered Scaliger his friendship, and participation in all his worldly belongings. Baronio emphatically added that he would be happy to share his last piece of bread with Scaliger. Chasteigner obeyed the cardinal’s order and promptly wrote his letter. 43 This letter clearly shows how the Catholic Church limited contact between a former student and his master. The relationship between Scaliger and Henri Louis deteriorated rapidly. Scaliger grew extremely bitter about his former pupil, who sided with the Vatican’s vitriolic calumniator Caspar Schoppius, also a one-time admirer of Scaliger, but later to become his greatest detractor (see also Jan Papy’s contribution in the present volume). Thus, not only personal objections against one’s religion, but also institutional limitations implemented from above, could limit transconfessional contact. From the fact that mediocre scholars of the correct confession were spared, whereas champions of scholarship in the other camp were ruthlessly attacked, it is clear that the religious affiliation of the victim singled him out as a target. In Scaliger’s words, Bernays, Scaliger, 23–24. The French letter, drawn from De Reves (ed.), Epistres, 378–380, is printed, alongside a German translation, in Bernays, Scaliger, 20–23. 42 43

386

dirk van miert

complaining about the book Amphitheatrum, which the Society of Jesus44 directed against him: It is a crime to know something if you do not belong to the Jesuits. Thus, they target only those whom they regret not to have flocked to their number and of whom they do not consider it to be a waste of money to pay them to join their pernicious society. All people, and I do not mean only of our faction, but also the more moderate papists, loath that infernal Amphitheatrum of theirs. I fairly recently wrote our friend Welser about it and he, although he is much in favour of that [Jesuit] order, made it nevertheless crystal clear in his latest letter to me that he was against pernicious writings of this sort and that he could not approve of something which displeased all good men. 45

As is underscored by this quotation and the one on page 370, footnote 9, the debate was in the first place not about the contents, but about affiliation: confessional politics were the main factor, not confessional doctrine. In Scaliger’s eyes, only a good Catholic like Marcus Welser was able to rise above these mechanisms of factionalism. However, both men would become estranged as the controversy between Scaliger and the Jesuits developed. Welser felt he could not continue the correspondence.46 He seems to have broken off contact of his own initiative, not because he was put under pressure from above to do so. Scaliger made it appear that he was drawn into a debate he did not provoke. Indeed, he appears to have been more interested in the methods of scholarship than in theological questions. He rarely pur-

44 The book was in fact written by the rector of the Antwerp College of Jesuits, Carolus Scribanius: Amphitheatrum honoris in quo Calvinistarum in Societatem Iesu criminationes iugulatae, ([Antwerp] 1605). See D. Sacré and J. De Landtsheer, ‘Schrijvers, drukkers, en hun deadlines. Een nieuwe brief van Balthasar Moretus aan Justus Lipsius (1605)’, in De Gulden Passer 83 (2005), 157–173 (esp. p. 161–163). 45 Scaliger ([Leiden]) to Casaubon ([Paris]), 15 September 1605 (Autograph: Paris, BNF, coll. Dupuy, ms. 394 ter, fol. 108r; ms. copy: London, Brit. Lib. Burn. 366, fol. 132v; printed in Heinsius (ed.), Scaligeri Epistolae, 298): ‘Crimen est aliquid scire, si non es Loioliticarum partium. Itaque solos eos petunt, quos suo numero non aggregatos esse dolent, et quos in illam Stygiam societatem cooptari auro contra carum non habeant. Omnes non dicam nostrarum partium, sed et pontificii modestiores eorum Tartareum Amphitheatrum detestantur, de quo satis nuper scripsi ad Velserum nostrum, qui quamvis illi ordini multum favet, tamen postremis literis suis ad me non obscure significat, se ab eiusmodo virulentis scriptis aversum esse, neque se posse probare, quod omnibus bonis displicet.’ 46 Bernays, Scaliger, 88. See also Scaliger’s remark in the Scaligerana (ed. Cologne 1695, 338, s.v. Rhenanus): ‘Welserum, superstitio multa scire et plura quam scit, praepedit’ (Superstition prevented Welser from knowing much, and more than he knows now).

the limits of transconfessional contact

387

sued theological arguments and consciously refrained from dogmatic debates. As his intimate Catholic friend, Jacques-Auguste de Thou, put it: ‘As for Scaliger’s sentiments on religion, I solemnly affirm that I never heard this great man dispute on the controverted points of faith; and I am well assured that he never did discuss them but upon provocation, and then reluctantly.’ 47 In 1591, Scaliger told De Thou that he could not publish his notes on the New Testament without a Talmud and other books which he did not have access to at that moment. In subsequent years, De Thou and other scholars would continue to press Scaliger to publish his notes, but Scaliger finally responded to De Thou’s request with a poem, saying that ‘envy’ (invidia) would not allow him to do so: people would be offended.48 To a Calvinist professor of theology in Franeker he explained that writing a commentary on the bible might be beyond his abilities (which was merely a rhetorically conventional answer). He also thought that he perhaps should not do it because it was not appropriate to his time. He acknowledged that a lofty mind should ignore the petty slander of those who wrote about literature (again, a merely rhetorical gesture), but it would be more sensible to avoid the Holy Scripture from being exposed to slander and to protect it by maintaining a modest silence. ‘I do not dare to touch those holy matters, to avoid the impression of distorting them if I seem to have said too much or too little. For in whichever of the two ways I would sin, the enemies of the truth will have sufficient pretext to let their impudence be aroused. And so I refrain from such a risky game, for even in dealing with amusing trifles, I have not been able to escape the virulence of these deadly spirits.’ 49 It is conceivable Quoted by Grafton, Scaliger 1, 123. De Reves (ed.), Epistres, 185, 279, 328, 333; Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Epistres françaises, 317; Philippe du Plessis Mornay, Memoires de messire Philippes de Mornay Seigneur du Plessis Marli 2 (La Forest 1625), 928–929. Scaliger finally responded to De Thou’s request with a poem, published in Scaliger, Poemata omnia. Ex museio Petri Scriverii (Leiden 1615), 33: ‘Iac. Augusto Thuano, Notas in Novum Testamentum efflagitanti.’ The poem was published by Bernays, Scaliger, 204, but the manuscript version has two slightly different readings. For an account of Scaliger’s notes on the New Testament in general and the poem in particular see H.J. de Jonge, ‘The Study of the New Testament’, in Th.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer et al. (eds), Leiden University in the Seventeenth Century. An Exchange of Learning (Leiden 1975), 64–109 (esp. p. 76-87 and 104, n. 114), who gives the poem and mentions two more copies in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. 49 Scaliger ([Leiden]) to Martinus Lydius ([Franeker]), 20 November 1600 (Heinsius (ed.), Scaligeri Epistolae, 576–577): ‘Nam de Notis in Novum Testamentum quod ut a me edantur petis, prius illud videndum esset, an praestare id possim. Deinde illud 47 48

388

dirk van miert

that among the ‘deadly spirits’ Scaliger included some Calvinist theologians, but he seems primarily to have meant theologians in the Catholic camp. Among Scaliger’s works, his opus magnum on chronology (De emendatione temporum 1583; second, revised edition 1598) was most prone to elicit reactions from the side of the Catholic Church. But Scaliger also suffered negative responses from Calvinist theologians in Geneva, 50 who ‘found his layman’s plunge into “sacred history” disturbing’. However, in the conflict which ensued with certain representatives of the Catholic Church, he was clearly seen by all parties as one of the leading Protestant scholars. When Scaliger was working on his second great project, the edition of the Chronicle of the Church Father Eusebius, Arnaldus Pontacus, bishop of Bazas, was reported to have said that he was annoyed that a Calvinist had dared to lay hands on a book which belonged to the holy literature. 51 To a certain extent, Scaliger had consciously chosen this position, first by leaving France and aligning himself with the Calvinist Dutch Republic and secondly by choosing to write on chronology, a subject which may not have treated dogmatic issues directly, but which, as difficilius occurrit, an debeam. Alterum non est ingenioli nostri; alterum isti saeculo non convenit, in quo plures quotidie oriuntur qui docere quam qui discere malunt. Taceo eorum qui literas tractant procaciam, qui nullum aliud quam maledicendi argumentum norunt. Quamvis autem animus excelsus contemnere haec debet, tamen extra culpam non est qui literas, rerum divinarum ministras, improborum maledicentiae obiicit, quum modesto silentio ab hoc periculo tutas praestare illas possit. Ego, mi Lydi, sacra illa tangere non audeo, ne traducere ea videar, si plus aut minus dixisse videar. Nam in utram partem peccem, satis habebunt veritatis hostes quo eorum provocetur protervia. Itaque a tam periculosa alea nos continemus, qui ne in ludicris quidem illarum Tartarearum animarum virulentiam effugere potuimus.’ On another occasion, Scaliger is recorded to have said he would have less reservations in publishing about the New Testament, in which he had spotted over fifty textual problems, if it would have concerned the text of a pagan author ( Scaligerana, ed. 1695, 212, s.v. Josephe: ‘Il y a plus de 50 additions ou mutations au Nouveau Testament et aux Evangiles; c’est chose estrange, je n’ose la dire; si c’estoit un Auteur profane, j’en parlerois autrement’). 50 A. Grafton, Joseph Justus Scaliger. A Study in the History of Classical Scholarship , 2: Historical Chronology (Oxford-London 1993), 397. 51 Scaliger (Leiden) to Simon Goulart (Geneva), 26 March 1603 (Autograph Paris, BNF, coll. Dupuy, ms. 496, fol. 220r): ‘J’oserai bien dire, que pour beaucoup de raisons il est expedient que ce livre voie le soleil. Je n’en dirai aultre chose, en attendant que l’evesque de Basas en Guienne ait faict imprimé [ sic] le sien, qui est si despit, aiant entendu que j’avoie besogne sur cest auteur, qu’il pense avoir receu une grande injure de ce qu’un Calviniste, comme il dit, ait osé mettre la main en un livre de la S. Escriture.’ The interpretation of ‘un livre de la S[aincte] Escriture’ is difficult: Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Lettres françaises, p. 380, has ‘lieu’ in stead of ‘livre’.

the limits of transconfessional contact

389

he could not have failed to realise, would necessarily have dogmatic consequences. The first edition of his De emendatione temporum appeared in 1583, when he was still in France. Although Scaliger was frustrated by the critical reactions it elicited from Catholic and Protestant sides, the responses from Catholic sides were much more restrained in tone than those Catholic ones which followed the publication of the second edition in 1598, when Scaliger had been in Leiden for five years. The very fact that he was ‘lost’ for the Catholic cause, seems to have made him into a target. In the meantime, Isaac Casaubon, who was still in Paris and who was continuously pressed to convert, was spared the kind of vitriolic attacks which Scaliger suffered. The different treatment of Scaliger and Casaubon shows that Scaliger was attacked not as a direct result of theological disagreements between confessions, but as a consequence of confessional differences between countries: Scaliger’s physical move from France to the Dutch Republic added a political boundary to the confessional one. This conclusion brings us back to the concept of ‘confessionalisation’, which is a process most often associated with the building of the nation state. During his lifetime, Scaliger found himself in the middle of this process. He left France, in spite of all his Catholic and Huguenot friends who wanted to keep him there to adorn France and the French monarchy. For those concerned with the restoration of France’s intellectual prestige, Scaliger, like Casaubon, was a symbol of learning. But unlike Casaubon, Scaliger acknowledged that not choosing sides and walking in stead the thin line which Casaubon followed, would make it all too difficult for him. He chose to grant the honour of his reputation to another country which was in the process of being built and which dearly wanted to have a symbol of its cultural significance. Both nations suffered severely from civil war. Both aspired to strengthen their unity and the structures of learning. The reason why Scaliger opted for Holland is clearly that he knew that his conscience would not be left alone in France. He would constantly feel pressure from the Catholics, just as Casaubon did. This was a confessional-political reality. The life of Joseph Scaliger, the ‘consul of the Republic of Letters,52 was thus governed, not by confessional differences as such, but by the very process of confessionalisation. 52 Heinsius addresses Scaliger thus in his edition of Silius Italicus De secundo bello Punico (Leiden 1600), 3: ‘consuli reipublicae literariae, consuli, sed sine collega, sed perpetuo.’

390

dirk van miert Isaac Casaubon

As has been done above with Scaliger, Casaubon will first be introduced biographically. Then his network of correspondents will be examined in terms of quantity. Finally, a number of cases will be presented to allow for a more qualitative approach. Casaubon was Scaliger’s junior by eighteen years. 53 He became professor in his birthplace Geneva and acquired for himself a reputation as a brilliant Greek scholar. In 1597, he accepted a post at Montpellier, where his star continued to rise. Finally, in 1600, he was summoned to Paris by Henry IV himself. It was rumoured that Casaubon was to be appointed as professor of Greek at the University of Paris. The University was in a deplorable state and in desperate need of famous scholars. But in spite of the fact that scholars like Petrus Ramus had been killed in the St Bartholomew Day’s massacre and libraries had been sacked (we may recall the narrow escape of Pierre Pithou, recounted in this volume by Ingrid de Smet), most scholars survived the disasters: the capital was a centre of learning, hosting people like JacquesAuguste de Thou, Claude Dupuy and the same Pierre Pithou. These ‘politiques’, a volatile faction of Gallican scholar-politicians, supported a French Catholic Church, with a certain measure of independence from Rome. Although the Edict of Nantes of 1598 allowed Huguenots freedom of religion, this freedom was under constant pressure from the Catholics. Protestants in France could not be registered as members of the University of Paris. Casaubon had to convert before he could counter the decay of the University. We see here a similarity with the Protestant case discussed in the present volume by Milton Kooistra, which showed that it was difficult to find a gifted arts teacher to succeed Petrus Mosellanus at Leipzig University, but even more difficult to find someone from the appropriate confessional denomination. Protestants thus struggled with the same problem as Catholics. When the authorities of La Rochelle sought a successor for Petrus Faber, professor of Hebrew and curator of their Protestant Collège, they could not find a single candidate in France who was both skilled and Calvinist. In despair, they turned to their co-religionaries abroad for support. 54

The following paragraphs are based on Pattison, Casaubon, passim. A. de Haraneder (La Rochelle) to Scaliger ([Leiden]), 5 September 1599 (in De Reves (ed.), Epistres, 450–451): ‘Nous en avons cherché par deça es bonnes villes de 53 54

the limits of transconfessional contact

391

Fig. 23. Pieter van Gunst after Pieter van der Werff, Portrait of Isaac Casaubon, engraving 1709. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. WGW 355A

392

dirk van miert

Those who had expected that Casaubon would change his mind, saw their hopes frustrated: he would not yield. When promises of material benefits had no effect, the Catholics changed their strategy. Casaubon was targeted by means of arguments: discussions about dogma. On an almost daily basis, he was called up for conversation with the cardinal Jacques Davy du Perron, an astute theologian, and Casaubon’s equal in matters of dogma and knowledge of the Church Fathers. These discussions did indeed produce some result. It became known that Casaubon thought that the Catholic interpretation of the Eucharist was more firmly grounded in the writings of the early Church Fathers than the Protestant one. However, such an acknowledgement did not outweigh Casaubon’s objections to the rest of the Catholic dogma. But not only the Catholics grew disappointed with him. Even though Casaubon stuck to his Calvinist guns, suspicions grew within his own community: he was at a Catholic court, the favourite of a Catholic king, disagreeing with a central tenet of Protestantism, and the object of admiration of a host of Catholic members of the Parlement. Casaubon felt himself obliged to reassure the Huguenots, who watched every step he took, of his determination. 55 He had thus little in common with Christoph Besold, whom Robert von Friedeburg in the present volume has shown to be of the opinion that conversion was a sensible idea in order to advance a career. Casaubon was more like Benito Arias Montano, who fostered strong principles, as Antonio Dávila shows in his contribution. From Paris, Casaubon corresponded widely with the scholarly world. In the following, we have made a selection from the correspondence of Casaubon, of which, unfortunately, no modern edition or inventory exists.56 This makes it even harder than in the case of Scaliger to assess how representative these figures are of Casaubon’s actual contacts. The figures below are based on the third edition of his correspondence only. Although this is an impressive volume in folio, it is ce royaume, mais il ne s’en est point offert que de Catholiques Romains’; echoed in Scaliger (Leiden) to Martinus Lydius ([Franeker]), 31 December 1599 (in: Heinsius (ed.), Scaligeri Epistolae, 575–576): ‘Tanta hodie in Gallia bonarum literarum cum pietate coniunctarum penuria est ut qui colonias eiuscemodi virorum alio mittere solebamus, ipsi ultro literas ab exteris nationibus emendicare cogamur.’ 55 For Casaubon’s constancy, see Pattison, Casaubon, 188–191, 219. 56 This problem is acknowledged by several scholars, e.g. P. Dibon, ‘Les avatars d’une édition de correspondance: les Epistolae I. Casauboni de 1638’, in Nouvelles de la République des lettres 1 (1981), vol. 2, 25–65 (esp. p. 63); Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik, 29. Fortunately, Paul Botley, co-editor of the correspondence of Scaliger, has begun to compile a (provisional) database.

the limits of transconfessional contact

393

far from complete. It contains only 50 letters addressed to Casaubon, as compared to 1110 written by him. Several volumes of manuscript letters written to Casaubon lie collecting dust in the British Library. It is conceivable that Theodorus Janson ab Almeloveen, the Calvinist scholar from the early eighteenth-century Netherlands who edited the volume, might have discarded some of the letters, although he seems not to have been as eager to censure parts of the correspondents as his predecessors Graevius in 1656 and Rivet and Gronovius in 1638 were.57 We have limited ourselves to Casaubon’s nineteen most frequent correspondents, on the assumption that these are most representative of his contacts in general. 58 Table 4. Absolute and relative proportions of religious affiliations of Casaubon’s addressees

Protestants 14 (74 %)

Catholics

Main addressees

5 (26 %)

19

From the nineteen correspondents to whom most of Casaubon’s letters survive, fourteen were Protestants (including a small minority of Lutherans, Anglicans and Arminians). This is to say that only 26% of these regular correspondents were Catholics. If we look at the number of letters actually sent, the figures do not differ much (table 5a), even when we take into account, as has been done in table 5b, some easily accessible additional evidence about Casaubon’s correspondence with Scaliger (258 letters, that is 113 letters more than taken into account 59 Lingelsheim (51, in table 4), Grotius (53, that is 28 letters more), 60 that is 22 letters more) and Baudius (11, that is 3 letters more) 61 on 57 In fact, Almeloveen frequently prints marginalia taken from Paulus Colomesius’s ‘Clavis epistolarum Is. Casauboni’. Cf. Paulus Colomesius, Opuscula (Paris 1668), 162–179. Working a century after Scaliger’s and Casaubon’s deaths, safeguarding their reputations seems to have been less of an issue to Almeloveen than to his predecessors, who still had to deal with Casaubon’s son and heir Meric Casaubon. See Dibon, ‘Les avatars’, 32–33, 55–56. 58 For the details of these figures, see Appendix 2. 59 Grotius, BW I, p. 639. [ BW = Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius , P.C. Molhuysen et al. (eds), 17 vols, (The Hague 1928–2001)]. 60 Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik, 497–499. 61 See the three letters to Casaubon, in Dominicus Baudius, Epistolae semicenturia auctae, lacunis aliquot suppletis. Accedunt eiusdem orationes et libellus de foenore (Amsterdam 1660), book 1 (letters 68, 78, and 95).

394

dirk van miert

Table 5a. Absolute and relative proportions of letters sent by Casaubon, according to religious affiliations of the addressee Protestants

Catholics

Letters to main addressees

476 = 72 %

181 = 28 %

657

Table 5b. Absolute and relative proportions of letters sent by Casaubon and occasionally to him, according to religious affiliations of the addressee Protestants

Catholics

Letters to (and from) main addressees

642 = 74 %

224 = 26 %

866

the Protestant side, and Lipsius (52, that is 43 letters more) 62 on the Catholic. This extra number of 209 letters, includes a small number of letters not written by Casaubon, but addressed to him. To compensate for the relatively untrustworthy counting in the correspondence of Casaubon, a number of cases of transconfessional contact in Casaubon’s biography and correspondence will be discussed. The first of these examples is ‘positive’ in the sense that the Catholic Church made conscious use of a scholar in order to legitimise itself. The others are ‘negative’, in that they prevented a scholar from taking a certain action. The immediate reason for Casaubon’s call to Paris in 1600, was to join a jury of six people, in the famous public dispute at Fontainebleau between representatives of both confessional sides: one Catholic and one Protestant. On the Protestant side there was Philippe du Mornay, sieur de Plessis-Marly, faithful diplomat of the king, leading Huguenot and author of a long book against ‘papist fallacies’. On the Catholic side stood cardinal Jacques-Davy du Perron, bishop of Évreux, senior chaplain to the king, member of both grand and privy council. This public debate was dressed up as means to come to a mutual understanding about the truth in dogmatic and ecclesiastical matters, but in fact offered Protestant scholars who were wavering in their belief an excuse to convert without losing their dignity. The minority position of the Calvinists in the Fontainebleau dispute is reflected by the composition of the jury: four Catholics and two Protestants, one of them 62 A. Gerlo and H.D.L. Vervliet, (Antwerp 1968), 520.

Inventaire de la correspondance de Juste Lipse

the limits of transconfessional contact

395

being Casaubon. As to the other Protestant judge on the panel, things worked out exactly as the Catholics had anticipated: Philip Canaye de Fresne, a good friend of Casaubon since many years, was known to be wanting a pretext for conversion. After the conference, he indeed went over to the Catholic faith. By having two major Protestants in the panel, of whom even Casaubon, on the points put forward, agreed with the rest of the jury, the Catholics could with more credibility legitimise the outcome. While Protestants tried to dissuade Casaubon from participating (Scaliger regretted it at length), Casaubon listened to the encouragements of De Thou and his Gallican friends, whom he trusted because they opposed the Ultramontanists. As his ties with De Thou and other Catholics with whom he had an understanding in the field of scholarship, were so close, many expected him to follow the example of De Fresne. 63 That he did not do so is of secondary interest to our question, which seeks to show how pressure was put upon Casaubon, not to extol his constancy. The negative examples—that is, the ways in which the Church stopped the actions of a scholar, rather than leading them—are more easily encountered in Casaubon’s biography. Due to the Ultramontane policies which Henry IV more and more adopted in the first decade of the seventeenth century, he was, for example, not allowed to edit the Church Father John Chrysostom or to write against the Annales Ecclesiastici of Cesare Baronio, 64 the same cardinal who, as we have seen, instructed young Chasteigner to write to Scaliger. Even when he embarked on writing an anonymous book in defence of Venice’s claims in its conflict with Pius V, in line with the general Gallican opinion about the conflict, the book was repressed by an angry Henry IV. There are more examples to be found of the restrictions imposed on Casaubon in his Paris years. 65 Casaubon’s work on Polybius, on which he spent four years, may therefore have been a second choice for him. The literary output of Casaubon must therefore be studied after taking into account the political-religious context: working on Polybius was not a voluntary refuge to a neutral intellectual space, springing from a conscious and positive irenic ideal, but a second choice, forced upon him by necessity. For an account of the Disputation at Fontainebleau and the way Casaubon’s correspondents reacted, see Pattison, Casaubon, 135–144. 64 Annales ecclesiastici a Christo nato ad annum 1198 (Rome 1588–1593). 65 For these and other examples, see Pattison, Casaubon, 192–196. 63

396

dirk van miert

Another example concerns restraints on communication rather than on the choice of works to publish. In 1604, Casaubon came into epistolary contact with Fra Paolo Sarpi, the learned theologian who, after a successful career in the Catholic Church, was charged with being on too friendly terms with heretics. Sarpi was suspended for six years by his superiors in Rome, which in itself clearly shows the dangers of transconfessional contact. Later in his life, he represented Venice in its conflict with pope Pius V noticed above. He survived an attempt on his life in 1607. 66 As Sarpi lived in Venice, the easiest way of transporting letters would have been via the French ambassador in Venice, that is, via Casaubon’s former friend and fellow on the jury panel at the conference of Fontainebleau, De Fresne. It was, however, out of the question that De Fresne, now a staunch Ultramontanist, would forward letters to a Catholic dissident such as Sarpi. Consequently, Casaubon had to send his letters by other routes, which caused severe delays: his letters from Paris to Venice arrived with difficulty. One took eleven months to reach Sarpi. 67 Contact from Catholics to Casaubon was not without problems either: the Flemish scholar Joannes Livineius dared not to address a letter to Casaubon directly and therefore wrote a letter to Marcus Welser in stead, containing a message to Casaubon about a manuscript of Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae.68 After Casaubon left Paris in 1610 and settled in London, he finally embarked on writing about ecclesiastical matters, which led to some Catholics breaking off contact with him. As Mark Pattison put it in his classic biography: Welser, with de Thou and the liberal catholics—now a small band— remained still on friendly terms with Casaubon. Du Perron wrote to him, in June, 1612 [. . .]. He regretted the libels of which Casaubon had been the object. [. . .] But the zealous party represented by the jesuits Schott, Fronto le Duc, Sirmond, silently withdrew from the correspondence of one who had, as they thought gratuitously, gone out of his way to constitute himself the champion of a schismatical church and king [i.e. the Church of England and James I]. The whole politics of western Europe

66 On Sarpi, see most recently: C. Pin (ed.), Ripensando Paolo Sarpi: atti del convegno internazionale di studi nel 450 o anniversario della nascita di Paolo Sarpi (Venice 2006). 67 On Casaubon and Sarpi, see Pattison, Casaubon, 253–256. 68 S. Gyssens and J. De Landtsheer, ‘ “Autor quem tantopere quaerebam . . .” Johannes Livineius as a student of Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae’, in De Gulden Passer 83 (2005), 89–106 (esp. p. 91).

the limits of transconfessional contact

397

at the time turned on ecclesiastical considerations. It was impossible that the same feelings and interests should not dominate social life. One neutral territory there was, that of learning, and this Casaubon had himself voluntarily stept out of. He had now to abide the consequences. 69

Concluding comparison Comparing the agents who lay constraints on transconfessional contact in the networks of Scaliger and Casaubon, it seems justifiable to conclude that the Ultramontane factions were the ones who exercised most control over transconfessional scholarly contacts around 1600. This is not to say that Calvinists fostered a particularly tolerant attitude, let alone an ideal of intellectual freedom. One only has to look at the measures taken in 1619 by the Synod of Dordrecht to see how the Calvinist Public Church in Holland tried to silence the Arminian faction by forcing Remonstrants into economic and social isolation, as has been made clear in Cor Rademaker’s paper on Gerardus Vossius and Harm-Jan van Dam’s on Grotius. Gábor Almási touched on Theodorus Beza’s attempt to try to curtail the diabolica libertas of his fellow Protestants in Poland and Transylvania. Nevertheless, around the turn of the sixteenth century, the reality was that the papacy had an international and loyal hierarchy at its command, while the Dutch Calvinists were too concerned with gaining control over their own people to be able to co-ordinate a counter-attack. The Huguenots in France were even worse off, as they were geographically scattered and organisationally decentralised. They could express their fear that Casaubon was wavering in his Protestant beliefs, but they had no means of exercising control over him. There was no evidence that Casaubon’s writings, beliefs and behaviour justified a reprisal, and in any case, the Huguenot community in Charenton, where Casaubon went to church, may have feared that ecclesiastical discipline against him would have had a counterproductive effect. Casaubon thus suffered more from the constraints on transconfessional contacts than Scaliger. Casaubon let himself be trapped between

Pattison, Casaubon, 400. Schott continued to address his letters directly to Casaubon when the latter had moved to London, at least until 1612. This would suggest that the ‘silent withdrawal’ of the ‘zealous’ Schott was rather reluctant. See Gysens and De Landtsheer, ‘ “Autor quem tantopere quaerebam . . .” ’, 91, n. 13. 69

398

dirk van miert

the front-lines, rejecting the academic posts offered him from abroad. He refused to co-operate in the process of confessionalising the French nation state, but because he stayed, he forced himself into an utterly defensive position. Unlike Scaliger, he was in no position to oppose the Catholic confessionalisation of France. Rather, the Catholics were able to make use of him, even though he remained Calvinist. After all, Casaubon stayed loyal to France and the king, at least as long as the king was still alive. That was, as said, why he was protected from the kind of insulting Ultramontane attacks which Scaliger either suffered or provoked. That Casaubon decided, because of the growing pressure, to leave after the murder of Henry IV and the change of political power, shows how the new political context changed the religious one, and not the other way around. Scaliger granted the honour of his reputation to the Dutch Republic, a country like France involved in a confessional programme, but, as it happened, a programme with which he identified. As he moved to Leiden, he emphasized the Calvinist profile of the Leiden stronghold, which was an important contribution to the building of the Dutch Calvinist society. Leiden, after all, having had a ‘tolerant’ character at first, gradually turned more and more Calvinist, as is made clear in the paper of Jeanine De Landtsheer. Confessionalisation in both Catholic Paris and Calvinist Leiden started as a top-down process, which forced those in the realm of learning to react. Some of them gave in, as for example Canaye de Fresne, Pierre Pithou, Christoph Besold or Charles Utenhove, whom Philip Ford has shown to have carefully negotiated his way back into Paris. But the financial motivations of the scholars do not suffice to explain the patterns of shifting religious affiliations in the Republic of Letters. Practical and material circumstances cannot always explain the ways in which scholars reacted. Christopher Plantin was indeed very practical, as Dirk Imhof shows in his contribution, but Plantin was primarily a businessman, not a scholar. We should therefore avoid what Furey called ‘the assumption, on the one hand, that ideas are disembodied, or the conviction, on the other hand, that practices are more important than thought.’ 70 Judging from the case studies of the religious exile Scaliger and the religious prisoner Casaubon, the constraint on transconfessional contacts in the first decade of the 70

Furey, Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters , 169.

the limits of transconfessional contact

399

seventeenth century was implemented more efficiently by the papacy than by the Gallicans or Calvinists. In the light of confessionalisation as a parallel process in all confessions, this would suggest that in the world of learning, confessionalisation as ‘a fundamental social process which largely coincided, but sometimes conflicted with, the formation of the early modern state and the shaping of its modern, disciplined society of subjects’, 71 was stronger in the Catholic realm towards its Catholic subjects than in the Calvinist realm towards Calvinist subjects.72 Judging from the cases of Scaliger and Casaubon, the Dutch Republic, even though it was a Calvinist state, exercised less control over transconfessional contacts between scholars than Catholic countries such as Italy. Even the predominantly Catholic France, dogmatically no different from Rome, had a political constellation in which transconfessional contact in the Republic of Letters enjoyed more freedom than in Italy. The formal hierarchical structures of the Catholic Church were more imposing than the ideals and practices which structured the informal hierarchy of the Republic of Letters. As Rummel argued in the case of the Protestant Republic of Letters: the confessionalisation of the humanists served the church, not the Republic of Letters, which was never an organized body but rested on the intangible bonds of scholarly friendship.73 But as we have seen in the cases of Scaliger and Casaubon, at the turn of the sixteenth century the Protestant Church, at least in France, and probably also in the Dutch Republic, was less in

71 ‘“Konfessionalisierung” meint einen gesellschaftlichen Fundamentalvorgang, der in meist gleichlaufender, bisweilen auch gegenläufiger Verzahnung mit der Herausbildung des frühmodernen Staates, mit der formierung einer neuzeitlich disziplinierten Untertanengesellschaft, die anders als die mittelalterliche Gesellschaft nicht personal-fragmentiert, sondern institutionell-flächenmässig organisiert war, sowie parallel zur Entstehung des modernen kapitalistischen Wirtschaftssystems das offentliche und private Leben in Europa tiefgreifend umpflügte.’ H. Schilling, ‘Die Konfessionalisierung von Kirche, Staat und Gesellschaft—Profil, Leistung, Defizite und Perspektiven eines geschichtswissenschaftlichen Paradigmas’, in W. Reinhard and H. Schilling (eds), Die katholische Konfessionalisierung. Wissenschaftliches Symposion der Gesellschaft zur Herausgabe des Corpus Catholicorum und des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte 1993 (Gütersloh 1995), 1–49 (esp. p. 4); English translation used as in Brady, ‘The Career of a Concept’, 4. 72 I hereby suppose that post-Tridentine Catholicism could be called a confession in distinguishing it with the preceding, Medieval Catholicism, without making a choice between calling it Counter-Reformation, Catholic Reformation or Early Modern Catholicism; see Brady, ‘The Career of a Concept’, 8–11. 73 Rummel, The Confessionalization of Humanism , 152.

400

dirk van miert

a position to impose on its own adherents limits on transconfessional contact than it was immediately after the Reformation. Moreover, if we were to judge solely from the cases of Scaliger and Casaubon, it seems that the Protestant Church was also less capable of doing so than the Catholic Church, which had reorganised itself after the Council of Trent. In other words, in the realm of the Republic of Letters, the Catholic confessionalisation had a greater impact than the Protestant one. Ironically, the Catholic Church, by cutting Catholic members off from contact with Protestant ones, also helped shaping the Protestant character of Republic of Letters. Appendix 1: Number of letters and religious affiliation of all correspondents of Joseph Scaliger The affiliations are based on entries in C.G. Jöcher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon (Leipzig 1750–1751); Biographie Universelle (Michaud) ancienne et moderne (Paris 1854–[1865]); Allgemeine deutsche Biographie (Leipzig 1865–1912), A.J. van der Aa, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden (Haarlem [1852]-1878); E. Haag, La France Protestante (Paris 1577–1588); P.C. Molhuysen and P.J. Blok, Nieuw Nederlandsch biographisch woordenboek (Leiden 1911–1937); Nationaal biografisch woordenboek (Brussels 1964–); Neue deutsche Biographie (Berlin 1953–); Dictionnaire de biographie française (Paris 1933–); and P.O. Kristeller et al. (eds), Catalogus translationum et commentariorum (Washington 1960–). In seven cases I relied on a probability. This review does not reckon how steadfast the correspondents were in their religious affiliations: some were accused openly of sympathising with the other party, like bishop Jean Monluc; others may have merely taken a Nicodemist position. In most of the other dubious cases, I chose to stay on the safe side and label the correspondent’s religious affiliation as ‘unknown’. For the sake of precision, I sometimes specify a particular strand within the general denominations of Catholic or Protestant. In case of doubt, I chose the more general category. Entries in the on-line version of the ADB label some correspondents from Germany ‘evangelisch’, which I translated with the general term ‘Protestant’, without making a choice between Lutheran or Calvinist. In the case of converts, I chose the denomination depending on the dates of correspondence with Scaliger. In the exceptional case that a correspondent converted but remained in correspondence, I chose for

the limits of transconfessional contact

401

the affiliation after the conversion. Thus, 15 Lipsius-letters preceding his public return to Catholicism in 1592 are also labelled Catholic. These could have been distinguished from the remaining 38 letters, but as Lipsius as a correspondent has not been divided in two in table 1, it seemed wise not to divide his exchange either. In any case, of those remaining 38 letters, 17 were not written by him, but by Scaliger. Comments on my decisions are welcomed. Unfortunately, not all of the first names of the correspondents could be retrieved. Alphabetical list of correspondents

1

5

10

15

20

25

30

No. of letters Affiliation exchanged with Scal.

Aleaume [Jacques?] Ancel, Guillaume Auratus, Simon Falconius Bagarris, Pierre Antoine de Rascas Balfour, Robert Barbatus, Josephus Barclay, John

1 1 1 3 1 1 3

Baudius, Dominicus Beckmannus, Christianus Bertier [Jean de, bishop of Rieux?] Beza, Theodorus Blitterswyck, Marie de Boisfort, De [not identified] Bongars, Jacques Bonniniere [not identified] Bontiers [not identified] Borgaetius Chanlieu, Jacobus Bouchel, Laurent Boxias, Margareta Bradley, Humphrey Brahe, Tycho Brenieu, Leonor de Buxtorffius, Joannes Buzanval, Paul Choart de Cahagnesius, Jacobus Caierus, Petrus Calvisius, Sethus Cantarel, Marguerite de Canterus, Gulielmus Capellus, Iacobus

20 2 2 4 2 1 12 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 1 5 23 3 1 21 1 1 1

Catholic (probably) Gallican Unknown Catholic Catholic Monophysite Anglican (later Catholic) Calvinist Protestant Catholic Calvinist Unknown Unknown Calvinist Catholic (probably) Unknown Unknown Gallican Calvinist (probably) Unknown Catholic Catholic Calvinist Catholic Catholic Unknown Lutheran Unknown Unknown Protestant

402

dirk van miert

(cont.) Alphabetical list of correspondents

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

Casaubonus, Isaacus Caselius, Joannes Castrin, François Cerutus, Federicus Chamier, Daniel Chasteigner, Louis Chasteigner, Henri Louis Choisny [unidentified] Chrestien, Claude Chrétien, Florent Christmannus, Jacobus Claviger, Stephanus Colli, Hippolyte de Colligny, Louise de Commelin, Jan (II) Commelin, Jerome Corneille [unidentified] Cousin, G. [unidentified] Crato a Crafftheim, Joannes Cujas, Jacques Cunaeus, Petrus Curators of Leiden University Dale, Cornelius van Dalechamps, Jacques Daniel, Pierre Del Bene, Pierre Diodati, Giovanni Dommarville [not identified] Dousa, Franciscus Dousa, Georgius Dousa, Janus (pater) Dousa, Janus (filius) Drusius, Joannes Du Bois, Simeon Du Chesne, Simon Du Faur de Saint-Jory, Pierre Duguianus, Robertus Dumay, Paulus Dupuy, August Dupuy, Christophe Dupuy, Claude

No. of letters exchanged with Scal. 258 13 8 1 2 10 3 1 2 7 1 1 2 4 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 4 2 8 4 3 2 1 4 1 10 3 21 4 1 1 2 2 43 See August 88

Affiliation

Calvinist Protestant Unknown Catholic Protestant Catholic Ultramontane Protestant Gallican Calvinist Calvinist Unknown Calvinist Calvinist Calvinist Calvinist Calvinist Calvinist Lutheran Catholic (Crypto-Protestant) Calvinist Calvinist Unknown Catholic Catholic Catholic (probably) Calvinist Unknown Protestant Protestant Protestant Protestant (probably) Calvinist Unknown Calvinist Unknown Unknown Catholic Catholic Catholic Catholic

the limits of transconfessional contact

403

(cont.) Alphabetical list of correspondents

Dupuy, Claude (Madame Chasteigner) Dupuy, Jacques Dupuy, Pierre 75 Duyckius, Janus Elmenhorst, Geverhardus Emmius, Ubbo Eremita, Daniel

No. of letters exchanged with Scal.

Affiliation

3

Catholic

See August See August 1 18 1 1

Esprinchard, Jacques 80 Estienne, Henry (II) Faber, Petrus Fel. Fay. [sic: unidentified] Franchimont, H. de [unidentified] Freherus, Marquardus 85 Gaudinius, Alexis Gentilis, Scipio Gillot, Jacques Giphanius, Obertus

9 1 1 1 1 6 1 2 29 2

Goldastus, Melchior Haiminsfeldius 90 Goulart fils, Simon Goulart, Simon Grissaeus [unidentified] Groulart, Claude Gruterus, Janus 95 Gruterus, Petrus Gutenstein, Leonardus Hanniel, Ignatius Haraneder, A. de Harlay, Achille de 100 Harlay Dolot, Charles de Heinsius, Daniel Henry IV, de Bourbon Navarre

4 2 16 1 4 31 1 1 2 1 5 6 3 5

Herauld, Didier Hoeschelius, David

2 41

Catholic Catholic Unknown Protestant Protestant Catholic (former Protestant) Calvinist Calvinist Calvinist Unknown Unknown Calvinist Unknown Lutheran Gallican Catholic (former Lutheran) Protestant Arminian Calvinist Unknown Catholic Calvinist Calvinist Unknown Unknown Calvinist Catholic Catholic Calvinist Catholic (former Protestant) Arminian Protestant

404

dirk van miert

(cont.) Alphabetical list of correspondents

No. of letters exchanged with Scal.

Affiliation

105 Hostagier, P. [unidentified] Hylle, Anna de Hylle, Barbe de Hylle? [=Baronne de Groisbec, Contesse de Meghen] Irlandus, Bonaventura 110 James, King of Scotland Jeannin, Pierre Joostens, Hans Joubertus, Laurentius

1 5 2 1

Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown

Jungermanus, Gothofredus 115 Kepler, Joannes Koterittius, Janus La Tremoille, Cathérine de, Princesse de Condé Labbaeus, Carolus Labbaeus, Petrus 120 La Croix, A. de [not identified] Laet, Joannes de Lambin, Denis Le Coq, François Le Doublet, P. 125 Leberon, Charles de, Lefèvre de la Boderie, Guy Lefèvre, Nicholas-Claude Le Jeune, Jonckeyre Lenchen [unidentified] 130 Principals of La Rochelle Lescale, Chevalier de Lindenbrogius, Fridericus Lindenbrogius, Henricus Lingelsheim, Georg Michael 135 Lipsius, Justus Lubbertus, Sibrandus Lubinus, Eilhardus Lydius, Balthasar Lydius, Joannes 140 Lydius, Martinus Maurice of Orange Menoyre [unidentified]

2 1 3 11 2 3 3 1 1 46 See Carolus 1 13 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 27 See Fridericus 7 53 6 6 2 14 2 1 1

Catholic Catholic (still) Catholic Calvinist Catholic (Protestant sympathies) Lutheran Lutheran Unknown Catholic Catholic Catholic Unknown Protestant Catholic Unknown Unknown Catholic Catholic Catholic Unknown Unknown Calvinist Unknown Catholic Catholic Calvinist Catholic (eventually) Calvinist Lutheran Calvinist Calvinist Calvinist Calvinist Unknown

the limits of transconfessional contact

405

(cont.) Alphabetical list of correspondents

No. of letters exchanged with Scal.

Merlin, Jacques Merula, Paulus 145 Meursius, Joannes Meuschius, Theobaldus Micaelius, Nicolaus Molineus, Petrus Monanthueil, Henri de 150 Monluc, Jean

4 2 3 2 1 2 6 2

Montague, Richard

2

155

160

165

170

175

74

Montesquier [unidentified] Morellus, Fredericus Morellus, Fredericus, filius Mulerius, Nicolaus Myle, Cornelius vander Nansellius, Nicolaus Nautonnier, Guillaume le NN74 Oldenbarnevelt, Joannes ab Oliverius, Thomas Opsopaeus, Joannes Paludanus, Bernardus Patisson, Mamertus Peiresc, Nicolas Claude Fabry de Perrot [unidentified] Petau, Paul Petit, Jonathan Pinelli, Gianvincenzo Pithou, Pierre Plantin, Christophe Plessis Mornay, Philip du Popellinière, Lancelot Voisin de La Pontanus, Joannes Isaacus Portus, Franciscus Poulain, de [unidentified] Puppinchius, Nicolaus Putschius, Elias Rantzau, Heinrich

This stands for more than one person.

2 1 1 1 9 1 7 6 6 1 2 2 2 11 1 4 1 1 36 1 4 2 1 1 1 1 6 2

Affiliation

Unknown Protestant Protestant Unknown Unknown Calvinist Catholic Catholic (crypto-Protestant) Anglican (Catholic sympathies) Unknown Catholic Catholic Calvinist Calvinist Catholic Unknown Unknown Calvinist Anglican Lutheran Calvinist Unknown Catholic Unknown Gallican Unknown Catholic Jesuit Catholic Calvinist Calvinist Protestant Calvinist Unknown Unknown Protestant Lutheran

406

dirk van miert

(cont.) Alphabetical list of correspondents

180 Rhodomanus, Laurentius Rigault, Nicolas Rittershusius, Conradus Rivaldus, David Riviera, Paulus 185 Romanus, Adrianus Ruffus, F. Bern [ sic] Rusdorf, Joann Joachim von Sainte-Marthe, Scévole de Salmasius, Claudius 190 Samaritan synagogue at Sichem Samaritans in Egypt Saul Israel, Asser ben Savile, Henry Schottus, Andreas 195 Scriverius, Petrus Seguinus, Gilbertus Senneton, Sebastien Sentout, P. [unidentified] Servin, Louis 200 Stadius, Joannes States of Holland and West-Friesland Superville, De [first name unknown] Sylburgius, Fredericus Taubmannus, Fridericus 205 Theodoretus, Joannes Arcerius Thou, Jacques-Auguste de Thomson, Richard Thuméry, Sieur de Boisise, Jean de Tournes, Jean de (Tornaesius) 210 Turquet de Mayerne, Louis Ubertus, Stephanus Vaillant de Guellis, Germain (Abbé de Paimpont or ‘Pimpontius’) Valerius, Cornelius Thales Vassanus, Nicolaus

No. of letters exchanged with Scal. 5 7 15 1 1 2 1 1 12 10 1 1 1 2 3 10 9 1 3 6 1 3 3 4 10 1 117 12 7 2 2 4 3 1 4

Affiliation

Protestant Catholic Protestant Catholic Unknown Jesuit Calvinist Protestant Catholic Calvinist Samaritan Samaritan Jewish Anglican (probably) Jesuit Calvinist Unknown Unknown Unknown Catholic Catholic Calvinist Calvinist Protestant Lutheran Protestant Gallican Calvinist/ Arminian Unknown Calvinist Protestant Unknown Catholic Unknown Catholic (former Calvinist)

the limits of transconfessional contact

407

(cont.) Alphabetical list of correspondents

215 Vassanus, Joannes

No. of letters exchanged with Scal.

Affiliation

1

Catholic (former Calvinist) Unknown Unknown Unknown Catholic Calvinist Catholic Calvinist Calvinist/ Arminian Calvinist Unknown Catholic Catholic (probably) Unknown Catholic Protestant

Vazet, Sieur [unidentified] Vernella, Claudius Vertunien, François Vic, Meric de 220 Vignier, Nicolas, fils Vinetus, Elias Vorstius, Everardus Vossius, Gerardus Joannes

1 1 29 2 1 1 1 2

Vulcanius, Bonaventura 225 Vulcob, A. de [unidentified] Welser, Marcus Weston, Elisabeth Jane

3 1 86 2

Wilhelm, Johann Woverius Antverpiensis, Joannes 230 Woverius Hamburgensis, Joannes

1 2 35

Total

1652

408

dirk van miert

Appendix 2: Number of letters and religious affiliation of 19 main correspondents of Isaac Casaubon For an evaluation of these figures, see above: tables 4, 5a and 5b and the text referring to those tables. Correspondent

No. of letters addressed to correspondent by Casaubon

Affiliation

Scaliger, Joseph Heinsius, Daniel De Thou, Jacques-Aug.

145 (258) 88 85

Calvinist Calvinist Gallican

Hoeschelius, David Canaye de Fresne, Phil.

58 36

Labbé, Charles Bongars, Jacques Lingelsheim, G.M. Grotius, Hugo Gillot, Jacques Canter, Theodorus Lectius, Jacobus Erpenius, Thomas Prideaux, Jean Meursius, Joannes Lipsius, Justus Gentilis, Scipio Gruterus, Janus Baudius, Dominicus

33 30 29 (51) 25 (53) 18 17 16 15 15 13 9 (52) 9 8 8 (11)

Total

657 (866)

Philippist Catholic (converted Prot.) Catholic Protestant Calvinist Arminian Gallican Calvinist Calvinist Protestant Anglican Protestant Catholic Protestant Calvinist Calvinist

BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS? EVIDENCE ON THE CONVERSION OF CHRISTOPH BESOLD FROM HIS LETTERS AND HIS LEGAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT Robert von Friedeburg (Rotterdam) For the purpose of the present volume, Scylla and Charybdis represent contradictory external pressures on the conscience of scholars, namely, the consolidating confessional churches and their demands for allegiance. In his Enchiridion militis Christiani (1503), Erasmus addresses different impulses within each person, namely the balance between trusting in ourselves and trusting in God. Here, a middle road between Scylla and Charybdis has to be steered, Scylla being not to adopt an overbold and somewhat careless attitude by trusting in God’s grace, Charybdis not to become completely dispirited by the hardships of war and give up one’s courage together with one’s arms. 1 In September 2006, a symposium in Wittenberg contrasted Luther and Erasmus with regard to their position on the issue of free will and grace. It appeared that Erasmus’ own deeply learned realization of the ambivalences of texts, and also of Scripture, led him to distrust Luther’s claim that all the truth could be revealed to men and plainly told to mankind. In his preface to De libero arbitrio he argued that not all truths, or all learned debates about them, must be discussed in front of the common people. In Hyperaspistes he argued that problems that perhaps not even theologians were able to solve should not become the topic of popular debate. 2 We will see in the course of this paper that Christoph Besold (1577– 1638) had not identical, but similar grounds for distrusting the controversial theologians of his day and the pinning down of every alleged 1 Desiderius Erasmus, Enchiridion militis Christiani (1503): ‘Quare sic inter Scyllam Charybdimque medius quidam cursus est obtinendus, ut neque divina gratia fretus securius agas atque solutius neque belli difficultatibus exanimatus animum simul cum armis abicias.’ See for the most recent new translation Collected Works of Erasmus, 66: Spiritualia, J.W. O’Malley (ed.) (Toronto-Buffalo-London 1988), 30. 2 Erasmus von Rotterdam, Ausgewählte Schriften, W. Welzig (ed.) (Darmstadt 1967– 1980), 4, 261.

410

r obert von friedeburg

detail of faith in ‘confessions’, leaving no place for varying ways to put a problem or alternative answers. In being confronted by ‘orthodox’ theologians of his day and place, in Lutheran Tübingen during the Thirty years war, in a letter of 1626 Besold rather sided with the Church Fathers and their errors then with his own contemporaries. However, that did not mean to eschew the Lutheran Church, as he stressed in the very same letter. Erasmus’ skeptical loyalty to the Church of Rome was not good enough for Tridentine Catholicism, and he quickly became a counter icon to the Jesuits as the kind of dangerous mind that needed to be controlled or stamped out. With Besold, we move on a full century and are able to review how doubts about confessional orthodoxy of his day could affect someone who, raised Lutheran, became Lutheran Tübingen’s foremost legal scholar, seven times chancellor of the university, the main public commentator on the issue of the restitution of Lutheran Wuerttemberg’s church properties to Catholic monasteries and who, in the course of his life and experiences, converted to Catholicism, went to Jesuit Ingolstadt and radically changed his argument concerning conscience, its protection, and the rights and role of the Church of Rome and the Emperor. Moreover, we will also see to what extent his religious doubts and changes influenced his theorybuilding. His example may be particularly interesting in that, while his scholarship and erudition was widely admired and led him to a critical examination of the confessional orthodox clergy of his time, a hundred years after Erasmus this led not only to his conversion from Lutheranism to Roman Catholicism, but to an almost Jesuit account in behalf of the Church of Rome in the Empire. 3 His example thus allows us to probe into various arguments on the relationship between humanism and confessionalisation. Historians have both argued in favour of the coherence of the later sixteenth and seventeenth century use of classical texts and the arguments derived from them and of the disintegration of Humanism as a movement of scholars with shared goals. Around 1500, one major goal is often understood to be the reform of education by teaching the Latin language and literature in an uncorrupted version. Fifteenth- and early-sixteenth century humanists are believed not only to have shared this goal, with their letters and their networks, they also constituted a group of their own, 3

See Christoph Besold, Synopsis Politicae Doctrinae (Amsterdam 1643).

between scylla and charybdis?

411

even outside the universities. But by the later sixteenth and during the seventeenth century, few if any famous scholars were not in university employment as well. Universities, however, were part of the realm of confessional Christianity in one way or another. 4 Famous contemporaries, such as Justus Lipsius, who wished to change between universities with different confessional allegiances along their career, thus seemed to have changed their religious affiliation along the way. Lipsius did change from Lutheran Jena to reformed Leiden and from there to Catholic Leuven.5 Did the letters these literati wrote to each other document their struggles of conscience in making these choices? In Besold, we will see an example of a Lutheran who, like many others, searched for new ways in approaching Christianity. He was in contact with Johannes Kepler and Johann Valentin Andreae (1586– 1654), and cited, among others, Johann Arndt (1555–1621), the author of the most popular pious book of the seventeenth century. 6 Besold, like Arndt, attempted to approach Christianity via late medieval piety, in Besold’s case via the mystic Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300–1361). Besold, like Andreae and Arndt, were at one time or another attacked for lack of confessional conformity, for Schwärmerei—an alleged belief in individual divine inspiration as a basis for a true understanding of revelation—or for leanings to Catholicism. Besold remained in a letter exchange with Kepler, who was denied the Lutheran Eucharist because of his failure to sign the formula concordiae of 1580, the functional equivalent of Dordt in the Netherlands for Calvinism and Trent for Roman Catholicism. And we will also follow Besold in becoming a propagandist for the Imperial protection of the Church of Rome in Germany. We will begin by a note on his biography, dwell on the issue of the erstwhile Wuerttemberg monasteries and evaluate the sources and current research on his conversion. We will then follow his radical volte-face from his politics of the 1620s, protecting the conscience of subjects against the intrusion of magistrates, to the 1640s, asking

4 U. Muhlack, ‘Der Tacitismus—ein späthumanistisches Phänomen?’, in N. Hammerstein and G. Walther (eds), Späthumanismus. Studien über das Ende einer kulturhistorischen Epoche (Göttingen 2000), 160–182. Of course, that does not mean that all universities subscribed to a specific confession. The university of the Lutheran Imperial city of Nuremberg did, for example, not subscribe to the Concordien Book of Lutheran confessionalism. 5 See the contribution of Jeanine De Landtsheer on Justus Lipsius, p. 303–350. 6 See H. Schneider, Der fremde Arndt. Studien zu Leben, Werk und Wirken Johann Arndts (1555–1621) (Göttingen 2006).

412

r obert von friedeburg

Catholic magistrates to defend Catholic’s conscience and to straighten out the heretic’s conscience all over the Empire, and finally try to put the evidence from the letters into perspective of this conference and wider research. Christoph Besold and the issue of the Wuerttemberg monasteries Born in Tübingen in 1577, Christoph Besold was raised in the Lutheran household of his father, a legal attorney at Tübingen (Hofgerichtsadvokat). He studied at Tübingen, came into contact with Kepler and became professor Pandectarum in 1610. Between 1614 and 1635, he served seven times as rector of the university. In 1635, his conversion, accomplished already in 1630, became public. Until this point, in particular his Thesaurus Practicus and his wide range of legal learning had made him the major authority in legal learning. Besold received and propagated the maiestas realis—personalis division to fit empirical reality with the terminology of Jean Bodin (1530–1596). 7 In his publications during the 1620s, Besold referred to the late medieval mystic Johannes Tauler (ca 1300–1361) and to the Lutheran Johann Arndt. By this time, Arndt’s Wahre Bücher vom Christentum had already become the seventeenth-century pious bestseller for Protestant and Catholic readers alike, and were accordingly severely criticized by Lutheran clergy as dogmatically unsound. 8 Besold himself was twice, in 1622 and 1626, charged with being unsound in faith. He weathered both charges, only to give further reason for speculation about his confessional loyalty as the Tübingen legal scholars’ argument on the Wuerttemberg monasteries emerged. For any assessment of the timing of Besold’s change of faith, this issue must not be overlooked. In 1628 and 1629, Besold wrote, as the leading Tübingen authority on law, two statements on the issue of the restitution of

7 On Besold: H. Dreitzel, Absolutismus und ständische Verfassung in Deutschland: Ein Beitrag zur Kontinuität und Diskontinuität der politischen Theorie in der frühen Neuzeit (Mainz 1992); B. Zeller-Lorenz, Christoph Besold (1577–1638) und die Klosterfrage (Tübingen 1986). His conversion and the unusually complicated and chaotic state of his publications have so far prevented any comprehensive formation of a state of research on him similar to other major contemporaries, such as Henning Arnisaeus or Johannes Althusius. 8 H. Schneider, Der fremde Arndt.

between scylla and charybdis?

413

Catholic monasteries in Wuerttemberg, an issue made both acute and dramatic by the 1629 edict of restitution by Emperor Ferdinand II in the wake of Catholic military victories against Bohemia, Protestants and Denmark in the Empire. 9 Wuerttemberg had been occupied by Charles V from 1548 to 1552. During that time, monasteries and other catholic ecclesiastical corporations that had been submitted to the reforming efforts of the duke of Wuerttemberg since the 1530s had been restituted to the Church of Rome. Only after 1552, they were captured again by the duke of Wuerttemberg. The dukes of Wuerttemberg could thus be challenged with having violated the regulations of both Passau and Augsburg. For it could be construed that the seizure of the buildings and lands of the Church of Rome had, in this case, not occurred in the 1530s but only after 1552, and were thus not legally covered by the stipulations of Augsburg. Already in 1627, the Emperor ordered the restitution of the monastery of Reichenbach to the bishop of Constance and asked the four Catholic electoral princes—Trier, Mainz, Cologne, Bavaria—to advise on other erstwhile Catholic institutions that had been reformed by the dukes of Wuerttemberg after 1552.10 Early statements from Wuerttemberg legal officials emphasized the fact that these institutions were laying within the territorium of Wuertemberg—as a spatial legal district—and were thus necessarily subject to the prince. In that case, even the later reformations would have been covered by law. However, geographical situation within the lands of another prince did not, at that time, prove subjectship. The issue of when the transfer of control had taken place remained thus crucial. After the edict of restitution in 1629, statements from theologians in Tübingen, Altdorf and Jena argued that the Interim period 1548–1552, even if and when during this period property had been restituted to Catholicism, must not be counted as proof that this property belonged rightfully to the Church of Rome during this period. Jurists form Jena and Strassburg supported this view, emphasizing that only Catholic property ‘reformed’ after 1552 for the first time needed to be restituted, not property already reformed by 1548 and only then, and only for a few years, restituted to the Church and Rome. But while even the Catholic Freiburg jurists seemed to endorse this

9 10

See for the following Zeller-Lorenz, Christoph Besold. Zeller-Lorenz, Christoph Besold, 174–181.

414

r obert von friedeburg

point of view, the very jurists of the University of Tübingen, headed by Besold, voted differently in 1629. Besold’s earlier 1628 statement on individual monasteries is lost, but his 1629 one send a dashing blow to his own prince. 11 Besold, who is legitimately seen as the main author and authority behind this spectacular piece of advice, first lined up an impressive array of arguments in favour of Wuerttemberg—so impressive that current research believes the original intent of the Tübingen scholars was to support their prince. But then Besold introduced the distinction between possessio civilis, in the hands of the prince of Wuerttemberg throughout the period, and possessio naturalis, in the hands of Catholic clergy during the Interim period of 1548–1552. While other Lutherans like Dietrich Reinking(k) read the appropriate article of the Augsburg Treaty 12 as not only addressing factual possession, but civil right, and the first part of the Tübingen statement had agreed with that, it then argued that the wording of paragraph 19 did support an interpretation favouring possessio naturalis. The statement further argued that since the Augsburg Peace of Religion had legalized the transfer of specific pieces of ecclesiastical property to Protestants provided the transfer had taken place by August 1552 without arguing the legitimacy of this move, one could now not begin to argue from legitimacy with respect to such property that immediately prior to summer 1552 had plainly not been in Protestant hands, whatever the reasons.13 If Catholics had to accept that the capture of their property until August 1552 was legalized by the Treaty of Augsburg, whether legitimate or not, then the recapture of any piece of property between 1548 and 1552 had also to be accepted by Lutherans. Besold’s argument stipulates the treaty of 1555 as a compromise enforced by circumstances and without regard to right or faith. This is true. In particular the ecclesiastical electoral princes agreed to the compromise at Augsburg only because they had been scared of the potential danger from Protestant princes. Thus, Lutherans and Catholics had been interpreting the meaning of 1555 in controversial and mutually exclusive ways ever since the accord had been agreed upon. Ibid., 197. Paragraph 19 on erstwhile property of the Church of Rome reformed and converted until 1552, see A. Buschmann , Kaiser und Reich. Verfassungsgeschichte des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation vom Beginn des 12. Jahrhunderts bis zum Jahre 1806, Dokumenten, 1: Vom Wormser Konkordat zum Augsburger Reichsabschied von 1555 (Baden-Baden 1994), 226. 13 Zeller-Lorenz, Christoph Besold, 204. 11 12

between scylla and charybdis?

415

And the Lutheran Besold now argued that the Catholic recapture of property during the Interim was at least as legitimate as the Protestant capture during the Reformation. Thus the preaching of the gospel by Luther and his adherents and the necessary consequences for reforming a corrupt church—by sequestration of further property of the Church of Rome in the areas of Protestant control—is described by him as a process devoid of inherent religious legitimacy and made legal only by the force of circumstances in 1555. 14 Besold did not go so far as completely rejecting 1555 as illegal, because it had had no papal accord at the time, but he was clearly moving to a Catholic point of view. There is little surprise that contemporaries now sincerely questioned Besold’s Lutheran faith. Besold converted in 1630, but made that public only in 1635. In that year, he also became a member of the Habsburg government for the Duchy of Wuerttemberg, captured by Habsburg forces after the Swedish defeat at Nördlingen, and accepted a call to Jesuit Ingolstadt. In the following year, he became imperial councilor (Kaiserlicher Rat), although his insistence on the need to restitute the ecclesiastical institutions now angered the Habsburgs, because they did not want to loose such a substantial part of their new won land. His own 1637 delineation of his conversion, recently analyzed by Matthias Pohlig,15 did not differ from standard controversial theological treatises, here for the Catholic side. Apart from citing standard sources, such as the Church Fathers, Scripture and the history of the church, Besold said that the birth of a child in 1630 meant he had to follow an oath to convert should God fulfill this wish—a quite conventional proof of the true will of God. Moreover, he now alleged his earlier source Arndt as being truly Catholic. Pohlig concludes that Besold, under the pressure of Lutherans and Catholics alike to make a choice for one confession or another, had abandoned his earlier attempt to steer free from theological debates and confessional identities. Indeed, he had mentioned his wish to not be embroiled in confessional strife in a letter to Kepler from September 1626. Kepler had asked him to Ibid. See M. Pohlig, ‘Gelehrter Frömmigkeitsstil und das Problem der Konfessionswahl: Christoph Besold’s Konversion zum Katholizismus’, in M. Pohlig and U. LotzHeumann (eds), Konversion und Konfession in der Frühen Neuzeit. Schriften des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte (Gütersloh [forthcoming]). I do thank Matthias Pohlig for kindly allowing me to consult his manuscript, prepared for the above cited publication, in advance. 14 15

416

r obert von friedeburg

comment on a confession of faith written by Kepler. Kepler had been excluded from the Eucharist on the grounds of failing to sign the formula concordiae. Also, the process against Kepler’s mother for witchcraft lurked in the background. Already in 1618 and in 1619, Kepler had protested bitterly in letters to his former Tübingen teacher, Matthias Hafenreffer, complaining about his exclusion from the Eucharist and claiming it was entirely legitimate to follow the early Church Fathers rather then the theologians of the formula concordiae. At issue was not least the understanding of the Eurcharist. 16 Kepler was the man in letters to whom Pohlig has identified Besold’s habitus of religion, a habitus attempting to steer free from the confessional churches and their theologians. 17 Pohlig understands Besold’s scattered references in these letters as an attempt to formulate a position threatened twice, in 1622 and 1626, when Besold was accused of sympathizing with Catholicism and with Schwärmerei. The latter indictment focused in particular on Besold’s interest in Arndt, a Lutheran himself, who with his 1610 Vier Bücher vom Wahren Christentum had provided the religious bestseller of the seventeenth century, making its way into many Catholic libraries, not least by breaching the confessional boundaries in his choice of late medieval pious texts. Pohlig argues that, until the 1630s, upholding a demarcation between his official position—as Lutheran professor and legal scholar—and his private faith had become fundamental to Besold’s way of dealing with his Lutheran environment. Indeed, Besold advised Kepler to publish the confession of faith that he, Kepler, had sent him for comment, only anonymously, if at all. 18 There are interesting scattered remarks on faith in these letters, and it is of course significant that they appear in a letter exchange with someone like Kepler, a man, Besold knew, was excluded from the Eucharist in 1618/20 for failing to sign the formula concordiae and was subsequently struggling with orthodox Lutheran authorities in Tübingen over the indictment against his mother for witchcraft (initiated 1615, conducted 1620, she was then released). Already in 1618, in his letters to this man, Besold was emphasizing the simplicity and truthfulness of the early church. He also distanced himself from the Johannes Keplers Gesammelte Werke, W. von Dyck and M. Caspar (eds) (Munich 1937–), 17, 809 (p. 283); 835 (p. 342ff, see 349). 17 Pohlig, ‘Gelehrter Frömmigkeitsstil’, typescript, 11–12. 18 Kepler, Gesammelte Werke 18, 1030. 16

between scylla and charybdis?

417

complicated speculations of his day: ‘Ego in simplicitate ambulo, nec illa mysteria scholastico-theologica intelligo; nec opto ut intelligere possim. Scio enim impedire magis quam promovere salutem et eam sapientiam, quae ex Deo.’ 19 While the Christian primitive church was one starting point for him, inquiry into nature seemed to be another. Besold was widely interested, had a library of nearly 4000 volumes and wrote on topics ranging from law via astronomy to theology. In 1619, Besold alluded in a letter to their, Kepler’s and his, common faith and the strength they receive from it ( fidei nostrae firmitatem).20 In 1622, in another letter to Kepler, he emphasized the true concerns of the Church Fathers. But in the same letter, he put himself explicitly in the camp of orthodox Lutherans. Praise of the early church did of course not contradict membership in the Lutheran Church in any sense. 21 The consensus piorum was not least built on the piety of the Church Fathers and represented by Lutheranism. None of that is necessarily evidence for a growing distance to the established Lutheran Church. In 1626, Besold alleged to Kepler he rather erred with the primitive Church Fathers than with any innovations henceforth—‘Ex animi sensu iis semper soleo respondere, qui me nescio cuius novitatis suspectum habent: antiqua, imo antiquissima me sequi, malleque cum primitivae ecclesiae Doctoribus errare, quam novatorum obscuram diligentiam imitari’, but adds directly: ‘Sed puto et firmiter persuasum mihi est, errores, quorum reos agunt Catholico romanos nostrates, novos esse, nec ex Ecclesia primitiva’ 22—and indeed, Lutheranism claimed just as well as any other confession to be on firm ground with the true, the one, the ancient, the primitive church. And thus, he emphasized just before this passage, that all rumours of his conversion had been wrong: ‘Rumor de mea conversione inopinatus plane fuit.’ In 1628, he signed the Lutheran formula concordiae again. We do not know exactly how good the friendship between Kepler and Besold actually was and whether Besold could trust that whatever he wrote in these letters would remain privy to him and Kepler. Kepler, Gesammelte Werke 17, 807 (p. 283). Kepler, Gesammelte Werke 17, 822, 1 January 1619. 21 Kepler, Gesammelte Werke 17, 940: ‘Verum Deum O.M. testor, adeo me ab omni novitate, et phanaticismo abhorrere, ut implicita fide amplectar cuncta, quae consensus piorum patrum adprobavit planeque in eo sum totus, et porro in eo elaborabo, ut sciam quid de nostris etiam, hoc est Lutheranis novitatibus (ita Catholici loquuntur) sentiant illi pii Patres.’ 22 Kepler, Gesammelte Werke 18, 1030 (pp. 270–271). 19 20

418

r obert von friedeburg

Given that he had become twice the object of suspicion and formal proceedings, in 1622 for Schwärmerei and in 1626 for alleged leanings to Catholicism, he might have had every reason to be careful giving anything away, but would rather reaffirm his soundness, whatever his ‘true’ religion. It is also possible to argue that his interest in Arndt and Tauler, while criticized, did not at all, in itself, estrange him from his Lutheran Church. The very father of Lutheran orthodoxy, Johann Gerhard, had also in young age published pious writings along the road of Arndt, under whose influence he had been (Meditationes sacrae, 1606). Johann Valentin Andreae, another Lutheran unhappy with the lack of real piety among the people, and influenced by his visit to Geneva in 1610, participated from 1611 in the Rosicrucian movement with its Natural Theology. In 1619, he published Christianopolis, a Christian Utopia in honor of Arndt, on the earthly fulfillment of true piety. Thus, the whole first quarter of the seventeenth century saw a whole range of publications and suggestions, emphasizing a whole range of issues, from a reform of piety to medieval mysticism, under the umbrella of the Lutheran Konfessionskultur (Thomas Kaufmann).23 This culture, however, was quite diverse, owing not least to its spread across different kingdoms in Europe and different territories within the Empire with a diverse range of universities. The university of the Lutheran Imperial free city of Nuremberg, for example, had not even submitted to the formula concordiae. Lutheran contemporaries like the Hamburg pastor Georg Dedeken celebrated the prosperity of faith and scholarship in Lutheran Germany. 24 It is against this context that Jörg Baur emphasized that alleged dissidents from the Lutheran Church, such as the famous Jakob Böhme, were in fact defended and protected by major Lutheran authorities such as Saxony’s court minister Matthias Hoë von Hoënegg and Wittenberg professors Balthasar Meinser and Polykarp Leyser. 25 By the same token, the mother of Kepler was not found guilty and Besold remained in the Lutheran Church, not withstanding his publications of 1625 and 1626 where he had cited Tauler and Arndt.

23 T. Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg und Westfälischer Friede. Kirchengeschichtliche Studien zur lutherischen Konfessionskultur (Tübingen 1998). 24 J. Baur, ‘Lutherisches Christentum im konfessionellen Zeitalter—ein Vorschlag zur Orientierung und Verständigung’, in D. Breuer et al. (eds), Religion und Religiosität im Zeitalter des Barock (Wiesbaden 1995), 1, 43–62. 25 Baur, ‘Lutherisches Christentum’, 49.

between scylla and charybdis?

419

No doubt, Lutherans like Besold with his constitutional ideas, Andreae with his visions of Christian Reform, Kepler and many others are examples of individuals who were critically supervised by the church and invited the suspicion of other Lutherans. But this undisputed fact does not render either the Lutheran—or Catholic, or Reformed— Church a solid comprehensive block, nor has the argument of confessionalisation ever claimed so. In fact, even in the Wuerttemberg of Lutheran orthodox supremacy, Andreae, another reader of the Paracelsist and Neoplatonist Valentin Weigel (1553–1588), condemned in Tübingen in 1622 as unsound and also cited by Besold, remained court preacher and successfully defended himself against attacks from other ministers.26 Not least due to the diverse character of developments within the Lutheran Church and the developments within universities in Lutheran territories, such as Helmstedt or Wittenberg to name but a few, variety of opinion, fierce debates and signing the formula concordiae was by no means mutually exclusive. Indeed, Besold weathered all allegations against him, safe those resulting from his legal advice on the monasteries. After that, however, he did convert. The examination of what Besold published before and after allows us to evaluate how radical his volte-face of conversion to Catholicism really was. Besold’s volte-face Let us just examine one of Besold’s most breathtaking arguments, put forward in his De maiestate in genere published in 1625, thus in between his two conflicts in 1622 and 1626. In his 1626 Praecognita Politices, he had referred to authors charged with heterodoxy such as Arndt, Tauler and Weigel. But his 1625 collection De maiestate in genere, though not making such references, was no less unorthodox. In Section II ( De Ecclesiastico Maiestatis Iure ) on the rights of majesty in the church, he asks in chapter VI to what extent civil magistrates should punish heretics. 27 Besold asserts in general terms, referring to Augustine, Jean Bodin and Johann Gerhard, the responsibility of the 26 I. Bernheiden, ‘Die Religion im autobiographischen Schrifttum des 17. Jahrhunderts’, in Breuer et al. (eds), Religion und Religiosität, 735–744 (esp. p. 737). 27 Christoph Besold, De maiestate in genere (Strasbourg, 1625), sectio 2: De ecclesiastico majestatis iure, caput 6: An et Quatenus secularis potestas haereses prohibeat, exstirpetque [. . .], 127ff. See H. Dreitzel, ‘Politische Philosophie’, in H. Holzhey and W. Schmidt Biggemann (eds), Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie. Die Philosophie des

420

r obert von friedeburg

magistrate for rooting out vice and heresy (128), but then asserts that no force should be applied on conscience (130). Indeed, it was against God’s will to make others pious (‘Es gefällt Gott nicht, wenn wir ander Leute begehren fromm zu machen’, 130). Rebels and seditious subjects could be punished (‘coerceri possunt’, 131). But Besold opts in favor of what he understands to be Jacob Arminius’s position in his Oratio de concordia and argues that prosecution of alleged heretics is imprudent, for the potential damage is outweighing any possible gain. He finds proof for this allegation not least in Dutch and Polish history. The toleration of various religious groups proved beneficial in these cases (131–132). His conclusion, however, is truly stunning, for it goes well beyond a claim for toleration by prudence. He now combines statements from Luther directed against the prosecution of himself and his followers by the Church of Rome with more recent notions of natural law and its concomitant rights. He plainly states that ‘Juris naturalis est, conscientiam liberam habere, et credere quicquid velis’ (132). He then quotes Luther, ‘ those are called God’s People, who are defamed as heretics and the devil’s own’ (133). He is further quoting a number of Lutheran lawyers of the time, who argued that the 1555 choice of religion was open to all subjects anyway (133). Indeed, in any state a large number of subjects could be quite estranged from the Christian Church. States like Moscow tolerated all religions—save the Catholics (134–135). Moreover, as the history of the Dutch Provinces showed, the suppression of alleged heretics only led to turmoil and strife (135). To arrive at this argument as a major Lutheran authority on the Law of the Empire, Besold’s decisive step was to limit the cura religionis given to secular magistrates in 1555 in a radical way. First, he reduced the essence of Christianity to a minimum, ignoring all confessional detail. Second, he defied any attempt to probe into the subject’s consciousness to check their faith. Third, he claimed that quiet heretics, as long as they do not disturb the public peace, should be left alone. These claims were developed from a highly innovative interpretation of Luther’s distinction of faith and law and of the regulations of 1555. Magistrates must not enforce any ecclesiastical practice among subjects, for, as the quotation above says, the ‘law of nature gives every one the freedom of his conscience to believe what he wants’ ( De maiestate, 132).

17. Jahrhunderts, 4: Das Heilige Römische Reich deutscher Nation. Nord- und Ostmitteleuropa (Basel 2001), 609–866, 662ff for a short characterization of the argument.

between scylla and charybdis?

421

28 There is no time to go into any detail about these stunning arguments. Suffice to say is that three very different strands meet here. An extensive and highly innovative interpretation of 1555 attempts to open up the protection given to the imperial estates to all subjects; a reason of state reluctance to prosecute heretics, that can be similarly observed with many contemporary writers, for instance the Leiden historian Zuericus Boxhorn; and an extremely wide definition of Christianity and related freedom of conscience by law of nature, transforming entirely whatever the Christian duty of a civic magistrate had been in terms of upholding the true faith. The latter point surely agreed with his own views on religion, informed by Arndt and Tauler, during the 1620s. Hardly any of that survived into his works from the later 1630s, such as his later Synopsis Politicae Doctrinae .29 Among the political principles listed in Paragraph 36 we now find that the Civitas Christiana is constituted by the Church of Rome. It is to the protection of the Church of Rome that magistrates must act. Sources are now not Arndt or Tauler, but Catholic theologians and politica-writers such as Adam Contzen, Luis Molina and Robert Bellarmine (25–26). Besold does still assert that the Peace of Augsburg must be kept (61). But sects like Atheists and Calvinists had to be rooted out, and the church remained under one single head, the pope, again referring to Bellarmine. Besold expresses his exasperation and detestation about the way heretics acquired the goods of the church (‘Maxime autem est detestandum, quod haeretici Ecclesiastica et Monasteriorum bona sibi arrogare [. . .] velint’) (61–65). Only where for practical reasons the suppression of heretics is impossible, limited toleration may be necessary. Besold acquired a truly Catholic understanding of toleration and politics in the Empire.

Conclusion Johann Valentin Andreae, in his own biography, comments upon the conversion of his acquaintance Besold with silence. Andreae himself, though attacked by fellow Lutherans, had no empathy whatsoever

28 For a more detailed account see R. von Friedeburg, ‘ Cuius regio eius religio. The ambivalent meanings of statebuilding in Protestant Germany, 1555–1655’, in H. Louthan, G. Cohen and F. Szabo (eds), Diversity and Dissent. Negotiating Religious Difference in Central Europe (New York [forthcoming]). 29 We use here the Synopsis Politicae Doctrinae (Amsterdam 1643).

422

r obert von friedeburg

for Catholics, Calvinists or any other sect. 30 To the wide range of Lutherans in the 1620s and 1630s, views in conflict with some other Lutheran brethren were a regular thing, but conversion was regarded as an entirely different issue. Besold’s various conflicts with ecclesiastical authorities remained a frequent experience for many Lutherans, none of whom considered converting or understood their own faith to be anything but Christian in the one and only understanding there could be—the Lutheran one. Conversion did not align Besold with an alleged group of free intellectuals between the camps, but cut him off from his Tübingen and Lutheran background wholesale. His letters, his political works and his own apologetic account reveal three different perspectives, but none of them allow us to explore the issue. His own apologetic account is a stereotype, standard text, describing the confessional identity of the Church of Rome, triumphant by catching former heretics and proven by God’s gift to the erstwhile sinner in giving him a child. It tells us about the genre, not of Besold himself. The letters give less away then one may hope. They do not foreshadow Besold’s conversion by revealing his heterodox interests in scholarship and in medieval mysticism, or by documenting his contacts to Kepler or Andreae, or by documenting his praise of the primitive church. They do all that, but none of that is making Besold specifically different from many other Lutherans, who remained in the church, like Arndt himself, the young Johann Gerhard or Andreae. Indeed, Besold’s own critical stand in his letters against too much probing into faith only mirrors a topos of the time, the praise in favor of the simplicity of faith. 31 By the same token, claims to pursue a via media between impious and unsound extremes were by no means the privilege of those sceptical against the confessional churches and their theologians, but the claim of every single of the emerging confessional churches.32 That does not mean to entirely deny that his letters to Kepler contained truthful statements at the time of writing. But Kepler himself did not convert, and if he had lived beyond 1630, it is doubtful whether he would have been regarded by Besold as an appropriate person to confide his plans.

Bernheiden, ‘Die Religion in autobiographischen Schrifttum’, 737. See W. Sparn, Wiederkehr der Metaphysik (Stuttgart 1976), 15–16. 32 E.H. Shagan, ‘Can Historians end the Reformation?’, in Archive for Reformation History 97 (2006), 298–306; 300–301. 30 31

between scylla and charybdis?

423

What is more, reference to classical or scriptural examples as evidence for a non-confessional understanding of Christianity was by no means restricted to intellectuals with a dubious relation to one of the confessional churches. Johannes Althusius, for example, the famous and undoubtedly stoutly Calvinist legal scholar and Emden Syndic subsumed in his 1603 inaugural lecture at Herborn ( Oratio Panegyrica, de necessitate, utitilitate et antiquitate scholarum ) Christian doctrine under civic improvement, treated as a discipline of philosophy. In this discursive setting, Christ and the Apostles are portrayed as founders of institutions of erudition, while studying at such institutions is treated as a way of renovating the soul, almost to the point of recovering its pre-lapsarian perfection. 33 Juan Mariana (1535/6–1624), the Spanish theologian, Jesuit and one of the five theologians working on the index of forbidden books who welcomed the Bartholomew Massacre—if only non-Protestants had not unfortunately also been killed along the way—described in his De Rege the wisdom of Moses as a prudent political leader and manipulator in establishing laws and ending internal strife. That God gave these laws appears to be an irrelevant side-show.34 The ardent Calvinist and leader in the confessional strife of his day, the Jesuit theologian and crusader against the heretics, they shared formulations and visions of an entirely unreligious and unconfessional nature, borrowed from classic insights into wisdom, prudence and the nature of man as a political animal. If there was no coherent humanist movement anymore, there surely was a non-religious classical reservoir of arguments used and referred to by many otherwise confessional authors. None of the statements of Besold, thus, do provide evidence of the personality of an intellectual any more free thinking then other scholars or torn between rival confessions any more then Kepler or of a non-confessional, intellectual religion of his own.

33 See H. Dreitzel, ‘Althusius in der Geschichte des Föderalismus’, in E. Bonfatti, G. Duso, and M. Scattola (eds), Politische Begriffe und historisches Umfeld in der Politica methodice digesta des Johannes Althusius (Wiesbaden 2002), 49–112. 34 Juan de Mariana, De rege et regis institutione libri III (Toledo 1599), 424: ‘Moses, qua erat sapientia, ad fundandam suae genti felicitatem, legesque et judicia sancienda, imprimis pertinere iudicavit sacrorum ritus et ceremonias sancire. Quod illi cum caeteris legislatoribus, qui postea sunt consecuti in variis orbis partibus, commune fuit.’ See E. Quin, Personenrechte in der katholischen Widerstandslehre Frankreichs und Spaniens (Berlin 1999), 356–357 on Mariana, 467 on the ‘utilitarianism’ of this passage.

424

r obert von friedeburg

Among the papers presented at the conference, the exasperated statements by Vives so vividly brought to us by Prof. Fantazzi, did not directly express, but surely mirrored Vives’s fears for his parents in Spain. As a descendant from a Jewish family, he feared for their life. But this fate was not shared by the Christian protagonists of the other papers. Most papers documented the career-making moves, most often quite conscious, of scholars who wanted recognition in order to gain patronage and employment. To them, the letters they wrote, received, and occasionally published, played one important part in this endeavour. To be part of a network counted; to be in correspondence with the famous counted; to be recognized by the mighty counted. To style oneself after the examples of those already famous was thus one possible strategy. The cases of Caspar Schoppius (Jan Papy) and of Carolus Utenhovius (Philip Ford) immediately come to mind. That Utenhovius boasted of the noble membership among his audience is only the most obvious token of this fact. And of course, Erasmus himself had seen to it to engulf in letter-conversation with the mighty and powerful, including the Habsburg princes. Many papers clearly undermined an argument in favor of understanding these career-seeking scholars as victims of the confessional churches. Some papers did so by spectacularly tearing away misinterpretation from scattered and misread references like the one on Benito Arias Montano by Antonio Dávila Pérez. Rather, we observe strategies to move further and move up despite the fact that this is made more difficult because potential patrons and universities had made or were making confessional choices that needed to be taken into account. The need to sort out problems of conscience was, of course, in no way limited to scholars. But individuals in the early modern era, like we today, acted this out in ways they had learnt and into which they had been socialized. To contemporaries, the individual consisted of four personae (none of them the modern autonomous individual). Cicero had delineated these four personae in his De Officiis in an attempt to give a systematic account of appropriate actions, understood as fulfilling the rational abilities of human nature against the background of the dissolution of the republic and the problems of vice and ambition. 35 These See W. Heilmann, Ethische Reflexion und römische Lebenswirklichkeit in Ciceros Schrift De Officiis (Wiesbaden 1982); A.R. Dyck, A commentary on Cicero, De Officiis (Ann Arbor 1996); W. Nippel, ‘Klientel, Gesellschaftsstruktur und politisches System in der römischen Republik’, in Humanistische Bildung 22 (2002), 137–151. 35

between scylla and charybdis?

425

personae were, first, our common human rationality, allowing us to identify the honest and the appropriate (1, 107 honestum decorumque). Secondly, the specific mind or character (animus) of an individual. Cicero listed happiness, misery, wit or cunning as possible attributes. A third persona may have been developed by any extraordinary experience, leaving its mark on us. Finally, the fourth persona is the one that we ourselves wish or choose to adopt (1, 115). All four personae need to be considered in understanding what it means to act appropriately in a chosen way of life (1, 120 genus vitae). In general, we should strive to follow our ancestors, but take into account our nature (in the second sense), avoid vices (1, 121), and live according to our limitations (1, 110). With respect to the three latter personae, the specifics of our upbringing, age, duties as magistrate or as private person will determine fitting conduct. In the age of confessionalisation and religious strife, for noblemen that could mean to consciously take a stand. 36 For both lineage and the judgment of posterity counted. The Scottish dukes of Argyle, Henry II, Duke of Rohan (1579–1638), or the German elector Johann Friedrich I of Saxony (1503–1554) are examples that come to mind. 37 Of course, noble families too considered which choice would best allow them to participate in the distribution of princely offices. The Habsburg strategy of depriving the Austrian Lutheran nobility of office and patronage did persuade many even before 1620 to change faith. But many did stick to their Lutheran faith despite this pressure as long as possible. 38 Office did count, but so did lineage and land. To the scholars whose letters were presented to us, pursuing recognition in order to gain patronage and employment could also mean to exchange one university for another. And making such a move, sometimes across confessional borders, as Lipsius did, provided a very different challenge. Besold could probably have stayed Lutheran and remain Professor of Law in Tübingen even under Habsburg rule. He could hardly have gone to Ingolstadt. We have no direct evidence on why he converted. What the evidence does show, compellingly, is the

36 R. Asch, ‘Religiöse Selbstinszenierung im Zeitalter der Glaubenskriege: Adel und Konfession in Westeuropa’, in Historisches Jahrbuch 125 (2005), 67–100. 37 See now V. Leppin, G. Schmidt, and S. Wefers (eds), Johann Friedrich I.—der lutherische Kurfürst (Heidelberg 2006). 38 See A. Strohmeyer, Konfessionskonflikt und Herrschaftsordnung, Das Widerstandsrecht bei den österreichischen Ständen, 1550–1650 (Mainz 2006).

426

r obert von friedeburg

massive effect of the conversion on his scholarly work. The exasperation of his erstwhile friends is quite understandable. That should not lead us to share their condemnation of Besold as a traitor to faith and to fatherland for career’s sake. But to reject the ‘confessional’ contemporary reaction should not lead us to allege an intellectual autonomous sphere characterized by scholars heroically struggling between the Scylla and Charybdis of confessional camps, either. The paradigm of confessionalisation never meant that members of confessional churches were mindless marionettes or that the confessional camps were similar to modern totalitarian parties. There was ample and highly varied scholarship in each of the three confessions, and considerable and also hostile debate within them. It is not even entirely clear whether Besold had no alternative than to convert if he wanted to prosper in the service of the Habsburgs in Wuerttemberg. But if he wanted to go to Ingolstadt and prosper in the service of the house of Wittelsbach in Bavaria, one thing is certain—whatever his true belief, for that, conversion was a good idea.

FRANCISCUS JUNIUS, F.F. : LA QUESTION RELIGIEUSE Colette Nativel (Paris) Je commencerai par dire combien je regrette que Sophie van Romburgh ne soit pas ici p our parler de la co rrespondance de Junius qu’elle a eu le courage et la p ersévérance d’éditer et de traduire et qu’elle connaît si bien. L’introduction de s on précieux ouvrage étudie très précisément cette correspondance comme un t émoin des éc hanges intellectuels et constitue un apport très considérable à notre connaissance des milieux humanistes anglais et néerlandais du dix-septième siècle.1 Elle ne s’attarde cependant pas sur la q uestion religieuse qui m’arrêtera aujourd’hui. La correspondance que j’examinerai plus précisément ici est celle q ui concerne le dépa rt de J unius des P rovinces Unies, après son procès, son bref séjour en F rance et les p remiers mois de s on installation en Angleterre. En effet, une question se pose à la lec ture de cette correspondance qui, à ma connaissance, n’a pas été approfondie, celle du rôle que put jouer Junius dans les débats religieux qui agitèrent les Pays-Bas et l’Angleterre pendant cette période. J’avais déjà abordé cette question dans la biographie de Junius que j’ai recomposée pour mon édition du De pictura,2 en me fondant sur sa correspondance éditée ou encore inédite que j’avais rassemblée, il y a une quinzaine d’années. Néanmoins, je ne l’avais pas développée, mon propos étant alors de présenter l’auteur du De pictura sans entrer dans le détail de sa biographie et des autres facettes de cette complexe figure. Elle est pourtant d’une extrême importance, s’agissant d’un homme qui, fils du grand théologien calviniste François Du Jon, fut lui-même prédicant et fut victime des tourmentes qui agitèrent les différentes obédiences calvinistes aux Pays-Bas, dans la première moitié du dix-septième siècle.

1 S. van Romburgh, ‘For my worthy freind Mr Franciscus Junius’, An edition of the correspondence of Francis Junius F.F. (1591–1677) (Leiden–Boston 2002). Je renverrai à la correspondance de Junius en donnant la date et le numéro de la lettre dans l’édition Romburgh. 2 Franciscus Junius, De pictura veterum libri tres (Roterodami 1694) . Édition, traduction et commentaire du livre I par C. Nativel (Genève 1996), 25–80.

428

colette

nativel

Fig. 24. Wenceslaus Hollar after Anthonie van Dijck, Portrait of Franciscus Junius Jr, etching s.a. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. Singer 15.287

franciscus

junius, f.f. : la question religieuse

429

Les lettres écrites par Junius ou celles qui lui furent adressées concernant cette période qui s’étend d’environ 1617 – date de sa nomination à Hillegersberg – aux années 1621–1622 où il entre au service de Thomas Howard of Arundel qui sera son patron en Angleterre – sont assez peu nombreuses: environ vingt-cinq pour une période de cinq années. C’est très peu et c’est pourtant, remarquons-le, une période d’intense activité épistolière de la part de notre auteur. De fait, la correspondance qui nous est restée de Junius et qui est conservée, pour sa plus grande partie, à l’Universiteitsbibliotheek d’Amsterdam et parmi les Rawlinson Manuscripts d’Oxford est peu abondante : 226 lettres ont été retrouvées par Sophie van Romburgh. Elles sont datées de 1602 à 1674 (Junius est né en 1591 et il est mort en 1677, à l’âge de 83 ans).3 Cela pourrait être compréhensible si Junius était demeuré parmi les siens et n’avait pas eu de grandes occasions d’échanges intellectuels. On s’en étonne chez un personnage resté si longtemps loin des siens, en exil, dans un milieu aussi riche que celui où il fut accueilli en Angleterre et qui le mit en relation avec le monde savant européen. Cette correspondance n’a rien de comparable, en effet, à celle de Vossius, pour ne citer que cet exemple, qui compte plus de 2400 lettres. Ce relatif silence épistolier était déjà noté par son ancien biographe, Jan W. de Crane, qui le présentait dans son Oratio de Vossiorum Juniorumque familia . . ., comme un homme plein de qualités, mais taciturne et ‘lent aussi dans sa correspondance’. 4 On pourrait aussi imputer ce silence à la disparition de lettres – c’est d’ailleurs un phénomène qui se produisit certainement étant donnée la mobilité de Junius. Mais ces disparitions n’expliquent pas tout : la correspondance même qui nous reste témoigne d’une certaine négligence de la part de Junius puisque, à deux reprises au moins, Vossius se plaint de ses silences. En 1628, il s’inquiète d’être sans nouvelles de son beau-frère depuis plusieurs mois. Junius s’en excuse en donnant ces explications: Ceux qui sont ici savent que depuis ces six années d’affilée, on me donne à peine le temps de respirer ; [. . .] et dès que j’ai achevé une tâche, un bataillon d’occupations, jour après jour accru, se déploie sous l’effet de mystérieux enchaînements.5 3 Pour la description et l’analyse du corpus de lettres, voir S. van Romburgh, ‘For my worthy freind Mr Franciscus Junius’ , 13–19 ; 49–56. 4 J.W. de Crane, Oratio de Vossiorum Juniorumque familia . . . (Groningue 1821), 83 : ‘[. . .] parcus aliquando sermonis ; tardior quoque in scribendis litteris.’ 5 Junius à Vossius, 29 avril 1628 (Romburgh 58) : ‘Sciunt qui hic sunt, quam continuo hoc sexennio, uix respirare mihi detur; [. . .] ac prioribus dum peractis, maius in dies occupationum agmen occultis nexibus extenditur.’

430

colette

nativel

Le silence de Junius est à nouveau déploré par Vossius en février 1632 : il est s ans nouvelles de s on beau-frère depuis de lo ngs mois. Or c’est une période où Junius se trouve à nouveau dans une situation difficile. Au début de l’été 1631, il a q uitté l’Angleterre pour la France après une brouille survenue avec son patron Arundel.6 Vossius, qui est intervenu, l’informe, fin juillet, qu’Arundel veut le reprendre à son service.7 En août 1631, Junius est r entré en An gleterre.8 Mais, en f évrier 1632, Vossius adresse à son fils Johan ces lignes a nxieuses: Je voudrais que tu m’écrives ce que fait notre parent Junius et où il vit, car je ne sais rien de lui sauf ce que contenait ta seule lettre et que tu écrivais avoir appris de Petty.

Et il y r evient plus bas: A propos de notre parent Junius, je désire savoir où et dans quelles conditions il vit. Depuis la lettre qu’il m’a écrite de Paris, il y a près d’un an, je n’en ai reçu aucune. 9

Même si J unius était un ho mme très occupé, il fa ut bien conclure, comme De Crane, qu’il n’avait assurément pas un gra nd goût pour les correspondances suivies. Pourtant nous soulignerons aussi, en passant, car ce n’est pas notre sujet aujourd’hui, que nous possédons plusieurs lettres – en pa rticulier celles q u’il adressa à W illem de G root – q ui sont un modèle d’art épistolier. A cette correspondance trop rare, nous ajouterons donc des lettres de Vossius, de Grotius et de p rélats anglais qui permettent de tenter quelques hypothèses. 6 Junius à Vossius, 20 juin 1631 (Romburgh 83). Il a sans doute été mal payé ou même n’a pas été payé du tout. 7 Vossius à Junius, 25 juillet 1631 (Romburgh 84). Cf. BW [= Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius, P.C. Molhuysen, B.L. Meulenbroek, P.P. Witkam, H.J.M. Nellen et C.M. Ridderikhoff (éds.), 17 vols. (La Haye 1928–2001)], 4, 1665, Vossius à Grotius, 29 juillet 1631 : ‘Affinem meum Iunium nunc apud vos esse ex literis eius intelligo. Equidem indignor sic cum eo actum. Attamen hic aiunt illustrissimum comitem re melius perpensa per literas ei de luculenta admodum conditione prospexisse.’ 8 BW 4, 1670, Grotius à Vossius, 29 août 1631 : ‘Iunius noster in Anglia nunc est, quam etiam tam indigne habitus amare non desinit.’ 9 La correspondance de Gerardus Vossius a été éditée au dix-septième siècle par Paul Colomiès : Gerardi Joan. Vossii et clarorum uirorum ad eum epistolae (Londres : Samuel Smith, 1690), désormais Colomiès. Colomiès 1, 159, Vossius à Joannes Vossius, 1 février 1632 : ‘Velim ad me perscribas, quid rerum agat affinis Junius et ubi uiuat. Nihil enim de eo intellexi praeter quam quod unis literis tuis continebatur, ac tu ex Petteio te accepisse scribebas [. . .]. De affine Junio desidero scire ubi et qua conditione uiuat. Post eas literas quas Lutetia ante annum prope scripserat nullas accepi.’ William Petty était le chapelain d’Arundel et le tuteur de ses fils. Il fit, de 1621 à 1626, un voyage en Méditerranée pour le compte d’Arundel, et il en rapporta ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler les ‘Marmora arundelliana’.

franciscus

junius, f.f. : la question religieuse

431

La correspondance nous apprend que c’est grâce à Vossius et Grotius 10 que Junius obtint, en 1617, le ministère de la paroisse d’Hillegersberg, un bourg proche de Rotterdam, 11 ministère qu’il n’exerça pas longtemps. Les querelles locales qui agitaient la communauté s’amplifièrent en effet et semblent s’être inscrites dans le vaste problème religieux qui divisait alors le pays. 12 Les sympathies arminiennes de Junius lui valurent l’hostilité d’une partie des paroissiens. En 1618, le synode de Delft fut saisi par deux contre-remonstrants de la paroisse qui l’accusaient d’avoir obtenu sa charge illégalement. On reconnut qu’il n’appartenait à aucune faction. Un membre du synode, Henricus Arnoldus, l’accusa

10 Hugo Grotius semble avoir eu pour Junius une réelle affection. Il l’avait connu enfant, quand il était l’étudiant de son père chez qui il vécut de env. 1596 à 1597. A la mort de Du Jon, il composa un poème publié avec l’oraison funèbre rédigée par Gomarus (Franciscus Gomarus, Oratio funebris in nobilitate, doctrina, pietate celeberrimi uiri D. Francisci Junii (Leyde 1602), 26–27, et Hugo Grotius, Poemata (Leyde 1617), 257–258). Il avait aussi d’étroites relations avec Vossius, son ancien condisciple, dont il partageait les sympathies arminiennes. Il eut divers projets avec Junius : il voulut lui confier la traduction en latin de son Bewys van den waren godsdienst (BW 2, 712, 15 décembre 1621 ; 2, 737, 8 avril 1622 ; 2, 767, 20 juin 1622). Junius semble avoir accepté ce travail (Junius à Grotius, juin 1622, Romburgh 44 ; Junius à Vossius, août 1622, Romburgh 46), mais n’avoir pu l’achever, faute de temps libre sans doute. Grotius pensa ensuite lui confier l’édition de sa traduction de l’Anthologie. Il y renonça, Junius publiant aux Pays-Bas (Grotius à Vossius, 28 mai 1638, BW 9, 3603). 11 Grotius décrit l’endroit en ces termes dans une lettre à Vossius ( BW 1, 496, 6 janvier 1617) : ‘Locus est non inamoenus, apta studiis solitudo et, si libeat aliorum uti commercio, urbs propinqua.’ Sur le rôle de Grotius dans la nomination de Junius : BW 1, 493, 496, 498, 501, 504, 505 (décembre 1616–février 1617). 12 L’ouvrage le plus complet sur la querelle entre remonstrants et contre-remonstrants, bien que ses sympathies arminiennes exigent une lecture prudente, reste celui de Geeraert Brandt, The History of the Reformation and Other Ecclesiastical Transactions in and about the Low Countries (Londres : T. Childe, 1720-1723) (première édition en néerlandais, Amsterdam 1674–1677), en particulier, vol. 2, 177–228 (conséquences du Synode de Dordrecht sur l’humanisme hollandais). Voir aussi Adrien Baillet, Histoire de la Hollande, depuis la tréve de 1609, où finit Grotius, jusqu’à nôtre tems (Paris : G. de Luynes, 1693) (en particulier, vol. 1, 61–83 ; vol. 3, 162–174 et 261); Matthys Balen, Beschryvinge der stad Dordrecht . . . (Dordrecht : S. Onder de Linde, 1677, vol. 2, 873–874 ; Christiaan Hartsoeker et Phillipus a Limborch (éds.), Praestantium ac eruditorum uirorum epistolae ecclesiasticae et theologicae . . ., ed. secunda . . . (Amsterdam: H. Wetstenium, 1684) (lettres d’Arminius et de ses partisans). Sur les rapports entre l’arminianisme et l’absolutisme : R. Colie, Light and Enlightenment, A Study of the Cambridge Platonists and the Dutch Arminians (Cambridge 1957) (en particulier, 13–14 sur Vossius, son influence en Angleterre, l’accueil de Jacques Ier) ; P. Geyl, The Netherlands Divided, 1609-1648 (Londres 1936) ; J.J. Woltjer, ‘Introduction’, dans T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer et G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes (éds.), Leiden University in the Seventeenth Century : an Exchange of Learning (Leiden 1975), 4. Sur les liens entre anglicans et arminiens : voir G. Hoenderdaal, ‘The debate about Arminius outside the Netherlands’, dans Leiden University, 137-159 (en particulier, p. 138).

432

colette

nativel

cependant de socinianisme. 13 On l’empêcha de se défendre et il fut cité à comparaître, le 22 février 1619, à Rotterdam, devant le synode de Hollande du Sud, que présidait Abraham Muysenhol, un ministre de Bréda et son oncle par alliance, puisqu’il avait épousé une sœur de Johanna L’Hermite.14 Geeraert Brandt décrit les vexations qu’il eut à subir : on le fit attendre trois heures parmi les soldats et la foule excitée et son oncle Muysenhol le réprimanda de s’être absenté pour aller manger. Junius expliqua dans sa défense que sa vocation ayant commencé en 1614, il était parti étudier chez Willem Teelinck – ce prédicant étant d’ailleurs un contre-remonstrant ; il mit en avant la tolérance de son père que lui-même s’efforçait de pratiquer. Finalement, on l’accusa d’avoir obtenu son ministère par un consistoire illégal et sa sentence fut renvoyée au synode national. Junius fut rétrogradé au rang de vicaire et ne fut informé de la sentence que le 8 avril 1619. 15 Persécuté par les contre-remonstrants de sa paroisse, qu’on avait autorisés à prêcher, il choisit de résigner sa charge, sans même attendre la décision du synode provincial qui se tint à Leyde, en juillet et août de la même année, et qui entérina le jugement précédent.16 Junius signa alors ‘l’acte de silence’ qui l’engageait à ne pas exprimer publiquement d’opinions religieuses contraires à la doctrine officielle. Sans doute voulut-on frapper par cette décision un protégé et un ami du grand Grotius, qui fut condamné à la prison à vie, ainsi que le beau-frère de Vossius, qui fut lui-même aussi victime de la répression que subirent les arminiens et leurs sympathisants. Vossius, en effet, même s’il ne fut pas jeté en prison, connut des années difficiles. Tout cela a été exposé en détail dans la biographie que C.S.M. Rademaker a consacrée à Vossius. 17 Rappelons seulement que les Historiae de

13 Sur ces accusations, voir N.C. Kist et H.J. Royaards, Archief voor kerkelijke geschiedenis . . . inzonderheid van Nederland 7 (Leiden 1836), 41; Brandt, The History of the Reformation 3, 178–182 ; W. Knuttel (éd.), Acta der particuliere synoden van ZuidHolland (La Haye 1908–1916), 2, 79 ; C.S.M. Rademaker, Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577–1649) (Zwolle s. d. [1967]) ; je renvoie à la traduction anglaise, Life and work of Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577–1649) (Assen 1981), 101–114. 14 J.P. de Bie et J. Loosjes (éds.), Biografisch woordenboek van protestantsche godgeleerden in Nederland (La Haye 1919–1949), 4, 616. 15 Brandt, The History of the Reformation 3, 181–182. 16 Brandt, The History of the Reformation 3, 181; J. Reitsma et S.D. van Veen (éds.), Acta der provinciale en particuliere synoden gehouden in de Noordelijke Nederlanden gedurende de jaren 1572–1620 (Groningue 1893–1899), 3, 357; Knuttel, Acta der particuliere synoden 2, 76. 17 Voir supra, n. 13.

franciscus

junius, f.f. : la question religieuse

433

controversiis quas Pelagius eiusque reliquiae mouerunt libri septem que Vossius fit paraître à Leyde, en 1618, pouvaient être lues comme une justification des thèses arminiennes dont il montrait les différences avec celles que l’Église avait condamnées dans les pélagiens. Suspendu de sa communion par le synode de Gouda, Vossius ne renia jamais franchement son ouvrage, même s’il nuança plus tard sa thèse. 18 En 1619, alors qu’il professait à Leyde depuis 1614, il lui fut interdit d’enseigner et de recevoir des élèves, pour avoir refusé de souscrire aux Canons de Dordrecht. 19 A l’issue de ce rapide, mais nécessaire rappel, deux questions demeurent en suspens: 1) Junius s’est-il par la suite abstenu de toute prise de position religieuse? 2) Quels furent ses choix religieux? Ce qui reste de la correspondance de Junius semble d’abord montrer qu’il s’abstint désormais de tout débat public religieux. Les disputes convenaient mal à son tempérament pacifique. Nous possédons une lettre qu’il écrivit à Vossius, antérieure à l’affaire d’Hillegersberg, puisqu’elle date d’octobre 1615. Il évoque les ‘rumeurs sinistres concernant la Hollande’ qui parviennent à ses oreilles – il réside alors à Middelburg – ‘le désastre général qui frappe les églises’ et déplore 20 le pitoyable état créé par les controverses qui agitent la Hollande. Cf. Rademaker, Life and work of Gerardus Joannes Vossius , 147–148. Je remercie Henk Nellen d’avoir attiré mon attention sur ce point, et plus généralement de la lecture approfondie et suggestive de ce travail. 19 Colomiès 1, 24 ; BW 2, 691: Vossius à Grotius, [12 septembre] 1621. Voir Brandt, The History of the Reformation 3, 428, 455–456. Vossius choisit, malgré les tracas qu’il subit, de demeurer aux Pays-Bas. Il fut plusieurs fois invité en Angleterre ; en 1624 et 1628, on lui proposa même une chaire d’histoire à Cambridge. Malgré l’intervention de Buckingham et celle du roi, il prétexta de son ignorance de l’anglais et de la santé précaire de sa femme et refusa de quitter les Pays-Bas; Vossius à Buckingham, Prid. Kal. Junius 1627, Colomiès 1, 4 ; Gerardus Joannes Vossius, Opera (Amsterdam 1701), 4, Ep. 64–66, 68, 73–78, 80, 81, 87–89 ; Vossius à Junius, 22 septembre 1628, Romburgh 59 : il dit son amour pour la simplicité des mœurs bataves si propice aux chercheurs. Il envoya néanmoins ses fils Johan, puis Isaac poursuivre leurs études en Angleterre où il se rendit une fois, en 1629. Reçu par le roi, il fut gratifié d’un canonicat à Canterbury, avec dispense de résidence, ainsi que d’une pension de mille florins. Il fut aussi reçu à Oxford et Cambridge (voir Rademaker, Life and work of Gerardus Joannes Vossius, 145). Bien qu’il eût, les querelles s’apaisant, obtenu en 1625 la chaire de grec de Meursius, il quitta en 1632 Leyde pour l’ Athenaeum Illustre d’Amsterdam qui venait d’être créé. 20 Junius à Vossius, 20 octobre 1615 (Romburgh 12). 18

434

colette

nativel

Sa défense devant le synode aurait, selon Brandt, consisté à affirmer que (j’utilise l’édition anglaise) during all the time of his Ministery, he had endeavoured to avoid all those unecessary disputes .21 Il aurait ainsi adopté la même attitude irénique que son père qui avait laissé l’image d’un ministre tolérant, plus soucieux d’apaiser les querelles que de les allumer, rêvant même à une cohabitation possible des factions les plus opposées puisque il avait lui-même appelé Gomarus à Leyde, alors qu’Arminius y enseignait. Junius respecta l’‘acte de silence’ dans ses publications. La comparaison entre les trois versions – la latine, l’anglaise et la néerlandaise – du De pictura veterum publiées de son vivant indique en effet qu’il pratiqua une sorte d’autocensure à propos d’un texte qu’on pourrait interpréter comme une défense de l’image religieuse, celui qui raconte l’histoire du voile d’Ananias. L’anecdote est relatée par Cedrenus et Jean Damascène, entre autres. 22 Le roi d’Édesse, Augarus, malade, ayant entendu parler des miracles accomplis par Jésus, envoie auprès de lui son serviteur Ananias porteur d’un message qui l’invite à venir auprès de lui pour le guérir. Il demande, en outre, à son serviteur, si la réponse est négative, de rapporter le portrait de Jésus. Le serviteur ne réussissant pas à faire ce portrait, Jésus se lave le visage, l’essuie avec un linge sur lequel s’inscrit son portrait et le donne au serviteur. Cette histoire, assez voisine de celle du voile de Véronique, est susceptible de justifier les représentations de Dieu et du Christ, puisqu’elle montre que celui-ci n’a pas refusé de donner son image. Junius la relate dans la première version latine du De pictura, publiée, il est vrai, à Amsterdam, mais chez Blaeu, l’éditeur des remonstrants, et en latin, ce qui la destine à un public érudit restreint. 23 L’anecdote apparaît ensuite dans la version anglaise, publiée à Londres, dans un contexte anglican, et, de surcroît, dans un ouvrage dédié à Alethia Arundel, la femme de son patron, qui était une catholique militante. Elle disparaît en revanche dans la version néerlandaise, éditée à nouveau par Blaeu, en 1641, mais destinée plus particulièrement aux peintres 24 et accessible à un lectorat néerlandophone plus large que celui des érudits capables de lire la version latine. La suppression de ce récit trop favorable aux Brandt, The history of the Reformation 3, 182. Jean Damascène, De fide orthodoxia 4, 16 ; Georgius Cedrenus, Compendium historiarum 175c–178c. 23 On la retrouvera dans la seconde édition latine. 24 Junius à Vossius, 20 octobre 1615 (Romburgh 12). 21 22

franciscus

junius, f.f. : la question religieuse

435

images religieuses, à une époque où les querelles religieuses se sont apaisées, montre combien Junius est resté prudent et vient confirmer son refus d’aller publiquement à l’encontre de la doctrine calviniste la plus stricte. Si Junius s’abstint de prises de position publiques en matière religieuse, il semble ne pas s’être pour autant désintéressé de la situation politique – si tant est qu’on puisse séparer les deux domaines dans cette crise. Ainsi, Johann Kerling signale l’existence, à la Bibliothèque Royale de La Haye, d’un pamphlet satirique intitulé Flagitium Batauum, écrit de la main de Junius et signé du pseudonyme qu’utilisait son père, Nadabus Agmonus. Le sujet de ce pamphlet resté manuscrit et qui ne semble pas avoir été diffusé – la condamnation de Oldenbarnevelt par le prince Maurice et le complot ourdi par les fils du Grand Pensionnaire contre Maurice – montre que le silence de Junius n’était pas indifférence.25 La correspondance de Junius indique en revanche clairement que Junius continua à jouer un rôle occulte dans les affaires religieuses. On sait que, pendant son séjour à Paris où il était venu chercher un emploi, mais en vain, 26 Junius rencontra, en septembre 1620, le ministre protestant émigré, Daniel Tilenus, 27 défenseur des thèses arminiennes – il écrivait alors un commentaire polémique des Canons de Dordrecht, les 25 Il s’agit du ms. 133 M 108 qui se trouve à la Bibliothèque Royale de La Haye. Voir J. Kerling, ‘Scholar, antiquary, factotum: Franciscus Junius revisited’, dans F. Diekstra (éd.), Current Research in Dutch and Belgian Universities on Old English, Middle English and Historical Linguistics. Five Papers Read at the Sixth Philological Symposium Held at Utrecht on 3rd November 1984 (Nimègue 1984), 34–43, en particulier, p. 37. 26 Junius arriva à Paris pendant l’été 1620. En août, il loge ‘Chez Mr Piat, demeurant en la rue St. Estienne du Grec, vis a vis du collège de Montaïgu, aupres St Geneveve’ [sic] (Junius à Vossius, 13 août 1620 (Romburgh 27). Grotius dans une lettre à Vossius (Grotius à Vossius, 4 Martii 1620, BW 2, 598) salue Junius, on peut donc supposer un départ ultérieur à mars. Le choix de Paris se justifie par le fait que Junius y avait un cousin issu de germain, Jean Du Jon, un médecin qui occupait la charge de trésorier général de la cavalerie. Junius espérait qu’il l’aiderait à trouver un emploi. Vossius lui fit parvenir une lettre d’introduction pour ce parent, nobilissime et affinis carissime. Absent de Paris à l’arrivée de Junius, celui-ci ne revint qu’en septembre. Junius meubla le temps en étudiant l’italien avec un jeune clerc hollandais. Junius à Vossius, 13 août 1620 (Romburgh 27) et 18 septembre 1620 (Romburgh 28). A son retour, ce parent le reçut magnifiquement, mais une tierce personne assistant au repas, Junius, pris d’un accès de timidité, n’osa exposer sa requête. Junius à Vossius, 12 décembre 1620 (Romburgh 30). 27 Junius à Vossius, 18 septembre 1620 (Romburgh 28). Daniel Tilenus (1563–1633), appelé à Sedan par Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, y occupa la chaire de théologie et fut conseiller modérateur de l’Académie et précepteur du fils du duc.

436

colette

nativel

Canones Synodi Dordracenae, qu’il montra à Junius à l’état manuscrit. Tilenus s’apprêtait à partir pour Londres où l’appelaient le roi James et Lancelot Andrewes, l’évêque de Winchester. Il ne s’installa pourtant pas dans cette île, malgré la promesse d’une solide gratification, soit qu’il craignît la dangereuse hostilité des puritains qui l’accusaient d’hérésie, soit qu’il préférât la France pour la liberté qu’elle lui donnait de publier ses pamphlets contre les gomaristes. De fait, c’est à Paris, qu’il fera éditer en 1622 ses Canones Synodi Dordracenae . A son retour, en décembre 1620, Tilenus rapporta à Junius les propos élogieux que Joseph Hall avait tenus à l’égard de Vossius et que Junius s’empressa, à son tour, de communiquer à son beau-frère. Hall, en particulier, lui avait fait l’éloge de l’ Historia Pelagiana, dans laquelle il trouvait sans doute des arguments en faveur de ses propres thèses, et il lui en avait recommandé la lecture. 28 De fait, Hall, qui avait été un des membres de la délégation au Synode de Dordrecht, défendit une via media, quand la controverse entre arminiens et calvinistes toucha l’Église anglaise – solution de compromis proche de celle de Vossius et de Junius. Junius quitta Paris pour l’Angleterre en mai 1621. Ce départ peut s’expliquer par l’échec de sa requête auprès de son parent, mais aussi par le sentiment qu’il a d’être persécuté. Vereor omnia, imaginor omnia . . .,29 écrit-il à Vossius, sans qu’on sache à quoi il fait allusion – peut-être à l’hostilité des Réformés français, comme peut le laisser supposer une lettre antérieure. 30 Même s’il ne semble pas y être parti avec un projet bien défini, le choix de cette île peut s’expliquer pour plusieurs raisons. L’Angleterre ne lui était pas inconnue. Il s’y était déjà rendu, il avait séjourné à Londres, sans doute aussi à Cambridge et n’avait pas dû manquer d’y nouer des relations : une lettre envoyée au frère de Hugo Grotius, Willem de Groot, peu après son arrivée, indique qu’on peut lui écrire chez ‘son ancien hôte’ ( in hoc meo anti-

Installé à Paris (1620), il s’opposa au Synode des Églises réformées françaises favorable aux Canons de Dordrecht. 28 Junius à Vossius, 12 décembre 1620 (Romburgh 30). Joseph Hall (1574–1656), évêque d’Exeter (1627), de Norwich (1641). Son Cœlum in terra, hoc est Seneca christianus, de vera tranquillitate animi libellus plane aureus . . . Interprete Everhardo Schuttenio . . . (Amsteldam 1623) fait de lui un éminent représentant du stoïcisme anglais du dix-septième siècle. 29 Junius à Vossius, 18 septembre 1620 (Romburgh 28). 30 Junius à Vossius, 13 août 1620 (Romburgh 27).

franciscus

junius, f.f. : la question religieuse

437

quo hospitio).31 Il avait des parents en Angleterre : Anthonia van den Corput avait épousé en 1620 un Anglais, Thomas Bull. Peut-être aussi ce que lui avait dit Tilenus des bonnes dispositions de Joseph Hall à l’endroit de Vossius contribua-t-il à le décider. De plus, un homme qui ne projetait pas de polémiquer dans les débats religieux ne courrait pas grand risque. D’ailleurs, certains membres du clergé anglican n’étaient pas franchement hostiles aux arminiens ou à ceux qui ne les combattaient pas. Une délégation avait été envoyée par le roi James au synode de Dordrecht. Elle comprenait George Carleton, le cousin de Sir Dudley, alors évêque de Llandaff (il sera ensuite évêque de Chichester), John Davenant, l’évêque de Salisbury, Samuel Ward, professeur à Cambridge et l’un des traducteurs de la Bible anglaise, Joseph Hall, qui deviendrait évêque d’Exeter et de Norwich, et Walter Balcanquall, son chapelain écossais : il n’est pas impossible que Junius ou Vossius soit entré alors en contact avec certains d’entre eux. Tous ces facteurs expliquent le chaleureux accueil que Junius rencontra dès son arrivée en Angleterre auprès des prélats anglicans, auprès de Lancelot Andrewes et des frères Wren, Matthew et Christopher – le chapelain d’Andrewes et le père de l’architecte – en particulier. D’ailleurs, une lettre un peu plus tardive de Vossius à Junius – elle date de décembre 1624 – apporte quelques éléments d’explication. Le porteur de la lettre que Vossius envoie à Junius – un ami de longue date non identifié – projette de s’installer en Angleterre. Vossius le lui a déconseillé: Il ne doit pas évaluer sa situation à l’aune de la tienne (écrit-il à Junius). Toi, assurément, tu connais parfaitement la langue anglaise et quand tu est parti là où tu es, la recommandation d’un très grand homme t’a aidé dans tes efforts et le nom de ton excellent père n’a pas un petit effet sur ces hommes éminents. 32

Une ultime péripétie, totalement imprévue, avait en effet permis à Junius de s’assurer un solide appui. ‘Le très grand homme’ qui l’a recommandé est, à n’en pas douter, Hugo Grotius. Alors qu’il avait quitté Paris pour Londres et qu’il était presque arrivé à la mer – il s e trouvait à Rouen –, écrit Junius de Quillebeuf, à sa sœur Maria, il a été informé de l’arrivée Junius à Willem de Groot, 17 juillet 1621 (Romburgh 34). Vossius à Junius, 12 décembre 1624 (Romburgh 41) : ‘Nec enim ex tua suam metiri caussam debet. Quippe tu linguam Anglicam apprime calles, et cum istuc ires, enixus eras summi viri commendatione, et maximi patris nomen non parum potest apud viros praestantes.’ 31 32

438

colette

nativel

à Paris de Grotius qui s’était évadé de sa prison. Il a a ussitôt rebroussé chemin pour aller le saluer.33 Grotius lui avait alors donné des lettres pour le recommander à deux p rélats anglais, l’une destinée à M arcantonio de Dominis, un Italien converti à l’anglicanisme et devenu chanoine de Windsor, l’autre à L ancelot Andrewes, alors évêque de Winchester et chanoine de la Chapelle Royale. Néanmoins, on peut affirmer qu’à son départ de Paris, Junius ignorait encore s’il s’installerait définitivement en Angleterre, puisque, dans une let tre à Willem de G root, écrite au lendemain de son arrivée sur cette île, il dit avoir répondu à Marcantonio de Dominis, qui s’enquérait sur s es intentions, qu’il n’était pas enco re sûr de sa destination.34 Si Marcantonio de Dominis n’intervint pas – sa propre situation était alors incertaine et il envisageait déjà son retour à Rome – Andrewes lui apporta un appui réel et Junius lui rendra hommage, ainsi qu’à Laud, dans la préface du De pictura veterum.35 Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626)36 était non seulement un ami d’Hugo Grotius, mais il défendait aussi une théologie mesurée, à mi distance entre les Puritains et les Catholiques, et il devait sans doute se sentir proche des choix de Junius – comme de ceux de son père. Il joua un rôle déterminant dans l’installation de Junius en Angleterre. 37 Plusieurs des visites que lui fit Junius sont relatées dans la correspondance de celui-ci. La première eut lieu dès l’arrivée de Junius. Elle est rapportée dans la lettre du 5 mai 1621 à Willem de Groot que je viens d’évoquer. Ce premier contact se passa de la façon la plus cordiale, le prélat ayant renoncé aux signes vestimentaires de sa dignité et l’ayant reçu dans une petite pièce isolée. Junius lui rendit encore visite en juillet 1621,38 pour s’assurer qu’il avait bien retrouvé le manuscrit du De imperio qu’il avait prêté et surtout pour défendre Grotius contre les calomnies qu’il avait entendu répandre contre lui à l’occasion de la diffusion du pamphlet, intitulé à la Bibliothèque nationale de France : Déclaration en français de H. de Groot, expliquant les raisons de son

33 Junius à Maria Junius, 5 mai 1621 (Romburgh 31). Cf. aussi Grotius à Vossius, 23 avril 1621 ( BW 2, 633). 34 Junius à Willem de Groot, 5 juin 1621 (Romburgh 32). 35 Junius, De pictura ueterum libri tres (Amsteldam : J. Blaeu, 1637), [1]. 36 Lancelot Andrewes, évêque de Chichester (1605), Ely (1609), Winchester (1619), conseiller privé du Roi, fut un des premiers patrons de Matthew Wren. 37 Voir Grotius à Andrewes, 19 novembre 1619 ( BW 2, 595). 38 Junius à Willem de Groot, 17 juillet 1621 (Romburgh 34). Cf. Hugo Grotius, De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra , H.-J. van Dam (éd.) (Leyde etc. 2001), 43–44.

franciscus

junius, f.f. : la question religieuse

439

arrivée en France, donnant copie d’une lettre, adressée par lui aux États généraux des Provinces Unies, le 30 mars 1621, et protestant contre le récit, d’après lequel il aurait demandé pardon au gouvernement des Provinces Unies. La même déclaration avait été distribuée en latin et en néerlandais.39 Le commentaire laconique de Lancelot Andrewes – un Français dirait très britannique – ‘nihil’, inquit, ‘hic video, quod non sit Grotio dignum’, suscita l’émotion de Junius. Il crut opportun de rassurer Willem de Groot sur le sens de ces paroles, après lui avoir fidèlement rapporté les propos de l’évêque de Winchester . . . C’est une nouvelle occasion de remarquer combien Junius a été rendu méfiant par les tourmentes néerlandaises. Junius visitera à nouveau Andrewes, dans sa résidence de Farnham, en août 1621, accompagné cette fois de George Rataller Doublet, 40 le futur juriste. Rien n’est dit de la teneur de leur conversation dans la lettre qu’il adresse à Vossius et où il lui annonce qu’Andrewes lui cherche un emploi 41 et qu’il a besoin d’une nouvelle lettre de recommandation. Junius a vraisemblablement donné cette lettre à Andrewes entre octobre et décembre 1621. Il en rend compte dans une lettre datée du 11 décembre. 42 On sait aussi que Junius rencontra Christopher Wren (1591–1658) par une lettre que Junius écrivit à Hugo Grotius en juin 1622: Si les circonstances vous permettent de m’écrire une lettre, le chapelain du très révérend lord Winchester, Christopher Wren, un homme d’une piété non feinte et d’une érudition qui n’a rien de trivial, veillera à me la remettre fidèlement. Il t’admire et il m’aime. Et quand j’allais partir, il n’a eu de cesse de m’implorer et de me supplier, au nom des sacrosaints droits réciproques de notre amitié, de ne pas te laisser ignorer plus longtemps ses dispositions et son nom. William Laud, l’évêque de SaintDavies, qui jouit de la plus grande faveur auprès du Prince de Galles, m’a aussi fait sérieusement la même demande. 43

La Bibliothèque nationale de France le date à tort c. 1622. Doublet (Stephanus de Burmannia) est l’auteur de Mare belli Anglicani iniustissime Belgis illati Helena , s. l., 1652. 41 Junius à Vossius, 28 août 1621 (Romburgh 36). 42 Junius à Vossius, 11 décembre 21 (Romburgh 39) ; Junius a reçu une lettre de Vossius le 25 octobre 1621 (Romburgh 37). 43 Junius à Hugo Grotius, juin 1622 (Romburgh 44) : ‘Si negotiorum ratio permittet, ut ad me litterarum aliquid exares, eas Christophorus Wren, vir pietatis infucatae, et eruditionis non proletariae, reverendissimo Domino Wintoniensi a sacris, fidelissime ad me perferendas curabit ; te suscipit, me amat ; et discessurum per sancrosancta amicitiae mutua iura obsecrare atque obtestari non destitit, ne te diutius suum pariter animum et nomen paterer ignorare. Idem serio quoque a me petiit Guilielmus Laud, Episcopus Menevensis, maxima apud Walliae Principem gratia pollens.’ 39 40

440

colette

nativel

Matthew Wren (1585–1667), de son côté, envoya à Grotius, le 27 septembre 1622, une lettre dans laquelle il brosse de Junius ce portrait – dans un latin quelque peu ampoulé: Le très intègre Junius a fait croître en moi ces feux [Wren vient d’expliquer son désir d’entrer en relations avec Grotius]. J’ai tiré de sa fréquentation un fruit très doux, aussi longtemps que nous avons joui de nos muses familières ensemble ici. Assurément c’est un homme qui rivalise avec la plus pure neige dont les masses ne peuvent pas ne pas acquérir d’augmentation de candeur d’une semblable nature jusqu’à ce qu’elles se fassent connaître. 44

Junius, dans sa lettre à Grotius citée plus haut, mentionne aussi William Laud (1573–1645). Il f ut en effet un des a ppuis les plus précieux qu’il eut en Angleterre. Laud, qui était alors évêque de Saint-Davies et devint, en 1628, évêque de Londres, puis, en 1633, a rchevêque de Canterbury et primat d’Angleterre, n’était pas défavorable aux arminiens – il p érira d’ailleurs décapité, accusé de pa pisme. Junius entra en co ntact avec lui un peu plus tard, en juin 1622.45 C’est d’ailleurs grâce à J unius que Vossius fut à son tour en relation avec lui. A trois ou quatre reprises, l’évêque, ayant fait mention de toi, m’a demandé avec beaucoup de sérieux de ne pas te dissimuler son sentiment à ton égard dans ma première lettre ; il a beaucoup de poids auprès du Prince de Galles ; la plupart des Grands du royaume chérissent entre tous ce William Laud. Je pense qu’un jour nous percevrons un témoignage plus substanciel d’une âme si bienveillante. 46

On le voit, les visites que rendit Junius à ces p rélats eurent un double but. Les lettres d’introduction qu’Hugo Grotius lui avait données pour certains d’entre eux étaient certes destinées à l’aider dans son installation en Angleterre et sa recherche d’un emploi. Mais ces contacts étaient aussi 44 Matthew Wren à Hugo Grotius, 27 septembre 22 ( BW 2, 788) : ‘Crevit mihi hos ignes integerrimus Iunius ex cuius coniunctione fructum cepi suavissimum, quamdiu familiaribus musis simul hic usi sumus. Nae ille vir est purissimae nivis aemulus, cuius provolutae moles congeneris candoris augmentum non possunt non acquirere, donec ipsa mole innotescant.’ M. Wren, évêque d’Ely (1634), Hereford (1635), Norwich and Ely. Junius demande à Grotius de lui faire parvenir son courrier par l’intermédiaire de Christopher Wren (juin 1622, Romburgh 44). 45 Junius à Hugo Grotius, juin 1622 (Romburgh 44). 46 Junius à Vossius, 10 juin 1622 (Romburgh 43) : ‘Ter quaterve reverendus Episcopus Menevensis, tui mentione facta, serio admodum a me petiit ne suum erga te affectum primis litteris dissimularem, plurimum is potest apud Principem Walliae ; unum hunc Guilielmum Laud prae ceteris plerique totius regni magnates amplectuntur. Futurum confido ut tandem aliquando uberius animi tam benevoli testimonium percipiamus.’

franciscus

junius, f.f. : la question religieuse

441

une occasion pour qu’il défende la cause de Grotius et celle des Ar miniens auprès d’eux – et t ous ces prélats étaient susceptibles d’apporter une aide efficace. En décem bre 1621, G rotius remercia en ces t ermes Junius de l’appui qu’il lui avait apporté. Qu’il y ait là-bas des personnes qui nous montrent une amitié indéfectible, face à de si nombreuses calomnies et un si grand assaut de malheurs est un grand réconfort contre des maux si nombreux. Et je ne doute pas que je doive une bonne part de ce bien à tes efforts ; car je sais quel témoin, quel protecteur sûr de mon innocence j’ai en toi. 47

De la même façon, Junius servit d’intermédiaire entre Lancelot Andrewes, Laud et Gérard Vossius.48 La façon dont l’activité de Junius fut récompensée témoigne encore de sa tolérance en matière de religion. C’est au service d’un des plus grands personnages d’Angleterre, Thomas Howard, second Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Earl Marshal, qu’il va entrer. Le comte semble avoir manifesté très tôt le désir de se l’attacher. La lettre de Junius à Grotius en juin 1622 est la première de la correspondance qui mentionne le comte : ‘Reverendus Dominus Wintoniensis illustrissimo Angliae Marescallo sedulo me commendavit.’ 49 Plus tard, en décembre 1621, une lettre de Junius à Vossius indique que seule l’agitation provoquée par l’affaire Abbot – l’archevêque de Canterbury avait tué involontairement un homme à la chasse – a retardé la rencontre. 50 Plusieurs hypothèses ont été émises pour expliquer cette rencontre. Johan Kerling suggère un contact possible aux Pays-Bas, dès 1613, alors qu’Arundel y accompagnait Elizabeth Stuart. 51 Kevin Sharpe avance que Sir Robert Cotton, en relations avec Janus Gruterus, aurait introduit Junius auprès d’Arundel, 52 sans que rien de précis ne vienne confirmer ces hypothèses, même si on ne peut pas les rejeter. 47 Hugo Grotius à Junius, 15 décembre 1621 (Romburgh 40) : ‘Esse illic qui adversus tot calumnias tantumque fortunae impetum invictam nobis amicitiam praestant, magnum mihi contra tot mala solatium est. Neque dubito quin eius boni partem studio tuo debeam ; scio enim quam certum in te habeam innocentiae meae et testem et patronum.’ 48 Sur l’amitié d’Andrewes pour Vossius : Doublet à Vossius, 3 Kal. Sept. 1621 (Colomiès 2, 49) ; Junius à Vossius, 28 août 1621 (Romburgh 36). 49 Junius à Hugo Grotius, juin 1622 (Romburgh 44). 50 Junius à Vossius, 11 décembre 1621 (Romburgh 39) : ‘Copia illustrem comitem Arundelium conveniendi negata, qui iam pridem unice petiit ut sibi operam meam integram reservarem.’ 51 J. Kerling, ‘Scholar, antiquary, factotum : Franciscus Junius revisited’, 33. 52 K. Sharpe, Sir Robert Cotton, 1586–1631, History and Politics in Early Modern England (Oxford 1979), 100.

442

colette

nativel

En revanche, la correspondance de Junius avec Vossius 53 indique très précisément que c’est Andrewes, l’évêque de Winchester (Wintoniensis), qui a introduit Junius auprès du comte. Junius exprime aussi sa gratitude à son endroit dans la dédicace au roi qui ouvre le De pictura, associant à son nom celui de Laud qui lui aussi a parlé au Comte en sa faveur. Nous l’avons rappelé. 54 Enfin, plusieurs lettres de Vossius à Andrewes témoignent du rôle que celui-ci joua auprès d’Arundel. 55 Le choix d’attacher Junius au Comte n’était pas anodin. Il allait désormais être le précepteur de plusieurs des enfants d’une famille assurément plus catholique qu’anglicane. Car si Arundel avait abjuré la religion de son père, mort pour sa foi dans la Tour, il s’était résolu à le faire sans doute moins par conviction religieuse que pour recouvrer ses titres et ses biens, et il avait épousé une très fervente catholique, Aletheia Talbot. Que dire, pour conclure, de la religion de Junius à l’issue de ces quelques lectures? Peu de choses finalement : rien des convictions religieuses de Junius ne transparaît dans sa correspondance. Il est possible évidemment d’avancer sa prudence. Confier à une lettre ses idées est dangereux, surtout en des temps si troublés, et Junius a été rendu méfiant par ce qu’il a vécu lors de son procès – c’est un point que la correspondance permet d’affirmer. Même s’il ne faut pas oublier cette réalité, il est cependant un autre élément que l’on doit prendre en compte et qui, plus que la peur, donne sens à ce silence. C’est l’irénisme de Junius. Sa défense devant le synode a consisté à affirmer qu’il ne voulait pas prendre parti entre les différentes factions. Cette position moyenne – position courageuse s’il en est quand les extrêmes s’opposent violemment – fait la grandeur de notre modeste Junius. Il conserva cet esprit de tolérance tout au long de sa vie, si bien que son calvinisme modéré ne fut pas un obstacle pour qu’il devienne précepteur de jeunes aristocrates anglicans, fils d’une catholique fervente, sans jamais renier la foi de son père.

Junius à Vossius, 20 j. (juin ou juillet) 1631 (Romburgh 83). Voir n. 35. 55 Vossius à Andrewes, 24 novembre 1621 (Colomiès 1, 20) ; 13 septembre 1622 (Colomiès 1, 26) : ‘[. . .] quippe qui minime se grauatus sis, de meliori nota commendare illustri ac nunquam sine laude nominando inclytae Angliae uestro Mareshallo’ ; 9 juin 1623 ( Colomiès 1, 37). 53 54

BREASTING THE WAVES: GROTIUS’S LETTERS ON CHURCH AND STATE Harm-Jan van Dam (Amsterdam) Hugo Grotius was well aware that in religious matters both Scylla and Charybdis should be avoided: in his Ordinum Pietas of 1613 he compared the Greek ‘ladies’ to the two extreme points of view on predestination: ascribing sin to God or salvation to man. 1 It would be hard to find any contemporary of Grotius who disagreed with this view. Indeed, the phrase was suggested to Grotius by his friend Antonius Walaeus, who was a moderate Calvinist. Not all Grotius’s views on the church and religion were as uncontroversial as this one. In this paper I shall investigate how Grotius as a correspondent took position in the Dutch religious debate. This involves more than taking stock of his views as expressed in the letters: I will pay attention to the forms of the letters as well, and to the ways in which the epistolary mode itself determines content or ways of expression.2

1 ‘Vitanda esse duo praecipitia, prius ne peccandi causas Deo [ . . . ] adscribamus, posterius ne boni salutaris originem ad vires referamus deprava tae naturae [ . . . ]. Et haec quidem Scylla est sane metuenda; neque vero minus periculosa est ex adverso latere Charybdis, Pelagianismus scilicet aut Semipelagianismus’ (Two extremes are to be avoided, the first is ascribing the causes of sin to God, the other is thinking that the strength of our sinful nature is the source of our salvation. Although we certainly have cause to fear this Scylla, Charybdis across from her is just as dangerous, that is to say Pelagianism or Semipelagianism). See Ordinum Pietas, E. Rabbie (ed.) (Leiden 1995), §§ 35–37, cf. Walaeus in Grotius’ Briefwisseling (Correspondence, hereafter quoted as BW) 1, 216, 01.XII.1612: ‘[ . . . ] vitentur duo scopuli’ (two rocks must be avoided), and Rabbie ad loc. for similar expressions in other writings of Grotius e.g. BW 1, 312, 27.I.1614, to F. Sandius. 2 Between the oral presentation of my paper and the writing of this article Henk Nellen published his masterful biography of Grotius based on the correspondence, Hugo de Groot. Een leven in strijd om de vrede, 1583–1645 (Amsterdam 2007). This book has only one drawback: it is difficult to add anything to it.

444

harm-j an van dam

Fig. 25. Willem Swanenburch, Portrait of Hugo Grotius , engraving 1613. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. 116 B 15

breasting

the waves

Fig. 26. Hugo Grotius, Letter to Daniel Heinsius (28 July 1603). Leiden University Library, ms. BPG 77, no. 13

445

446

harm-j an van dam

Context: the religious troubles and Grotius’s writings A very brief sketch of the Dutch religious troubles in the beginning of the seventeenth century and Grotius’s role as a politician and an author is in order. During the Twelve Year Truce in the Dutch war against Spain, between 1609 and 1621, deep-seated religious troubles came to the fore and disrupted Dutch society. Both theological and political points were at stake. The theological issues turned around God’s eternal plan with man: predestination, free will, grace and sin. On the political plane the problem lay in the relations between Church and State: were they two parallel organisations, or was the one subordinate to the other? In principle these two issues, the theological and the political one, are unrelated. Those in power may well claim superiority over the churchmen, while inclining to either of the two views on predestination sketched above, to the Calvinist view just as well, as the Grand Pensionary Johan van Oldenbar nevelt himself did. In practice, however, both parties mixed up political and religious arguments. In the background plays the question whether differences between religious views are to be emphasized, as Calvinists did, or agreement, as Remonstrants did, and Grotius most of all. Grotius played an important role in the troubles, both as one of the most powerful politicians of Holland, and as the author of many incisive, extremely learned books and treatises on religious problems. In 1607 Grotius was appointed Judge Advocate of Holland, an important legal function, which he exchanged for that of Pensionary of Rotterdam in 1613, thus becoming one of the best paid and most influential civil servants of Holland. This function involved membership of the States of Holland; in 1617 he was appointed a member of its board. 3 Grotius had always been closely involved in problems of Church and State. He acted as a kind of governor of Leiden University, perhaps taking over the responsibilities of his father who fell out with the Leiden elite in 1600.4 In this role he was involved in the appointment of Arminius as professor of theology, and right from the beginnings Grotius was well informed about the differences of opinion between Arminius and 3 For the above outline, see Edwin Rabbie’s introduction to his edition of Ordinum Pietas (Leiden 1995), esp. 29 ff., the introduction to my edition of Grotius’s De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra (Leiden 2001), 1–30, and especially Nellen, Hugo de Groot, chapters 4–7, and the literature mentioned there. 4 Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 76–77.

breasting

the waves

447

Gomarus concerning predestination, which marked the beginning of the religious troubles. By order of the States of Holland he made an in-depth study of the problems of ‘collaterality’ already in 1610, 5 that is the existence of two separate orders, the political and the religious one, and since that date he never stopped writing books, pamphlets and letters about church, state and religion. His Meletius of 1611–1612 was about religious peace and agreement, not just between Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants, or even among Christians in general, but between all believers. The exchange of letters with his friend Walaeus about its draft resulted in Grotius’s decision to take back the book. 6 His Ordinum Pietas of 1613 is a fierce reaction to the acrimonious Calvinist Sibrandus Lubbertus, professor of Franeker, who had attacked the States of Holland. In it Grotius combined three subjects: the appointment of Conradus Vorstius as Arminius’s successor, predestination and grace, and the relations between Church and State. According to many readers, with this book Grotius revealed himself as a through and through Remonstrant, and an aggressive one at that. In an interesting letter Gerardus Vossius recorded all kinds of negative reactions to Ordinum Pietas, which caused him pain but also made him laugh. 7 He quotes people who say that a few years ago, when negotiating on behalf of the States, Grotius had stood between the parties, but obviously that had been only pretending, for in this book he could not have been more hostile against preachers. 8 The learned books he composed after Ordinum Pietas all were attempts to undo the evil done by it, and they all failed. His De satisfactione of 1617 is a theological work, a discussion of Christ’s sacrifice from a legal point of view, in order to prove that Remonstrants were certainly not heretics, and that they abhorred Socinianism. His De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra , ready J. den Tex, Oldenbarnevelt, 5 vols (Haarlem-Groningen 1960–1972), 3, 109–110; Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 14. 6 Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 120–5. On Walaeus, see ibid., 123; H. Grotius, Meletius, G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes (ed.) (Leiden 1988), 46–57. 7 BW 1, 299, 02.XI.1613: ‘Haec ego uti cum dolore aliquo, ita nec absque risu scribo’ (p. 275). 8 Ibid., p. 276: Tantum tam cito sis mutatus ab illo (How changed you are, and how swiftly, from that former self), a reference to Vergil, Aeneid 2, 274, which Vossius puts in the mouth of Grotius’s opponents, fittingly, for further on he explicitly states that they quote an adaptation of Aeneid 1, 475 against him. On amazed reactions to Grotius’s ‘new’ convictions, see also Grotius, Ordinum Pietas, Rabbie (ed.), 61–62, 65. 5

448

harm-j an van dam

in 1617 is an abstract political work on the church, its history and its relations with the highest powers. Grotius’s letters during the religious troubles: general During these years the religious and political conflict thundered to its unavoidable destination with increasing speed, the coup d’état by Maurice of Orange which included the arrest of Grotius and his patron Van Oldenbarnevelt. Grotius was one of the chief players as a politician and as an author. How did he react as a correspondent, and what do the letters tell us about Grotius’s position in the church? On behalf of this paper I studied the letters from 19 October 1609, the death of Arminius, to Grotius’s arrest on 28 August, nine years later. They total 475.9 The restriction in time is somewhat arbitrary: both before the death of Arminius and in his later life Grotius wrote letters which are relevant to his views on church and religion during the Truce. More importantly, the numbers and other data given below look much more exact and revealing than they actually are, for several reasons: first of all, it is obvious that we do not possess all letters written by and to Grotius, nor do we know how many of them, of which kind, written to or by whom, are lacking. Before 1635 Grotius kept no copies of letters which he sent, nor did he plan to publish (parts of) his correspondence. On the other hand, he evidently retained letters from some correspondents rather than from others. The archives of Grotius and of his correspondents were subject to disintegration, but not all in the same measure; that factor may partly explain the relatively great number of existing letters to Gerardus Vossius. 10 Secondly, many letters both by Grotius and others are available only in seventeenth century editions. Their editors were sometimes careless or unreliable, they may mangle names, standardize forms of address or omit parts of letters which they deem uninteresting or too personal. 11 Thirdly, the

9 This includes the letters published in the supplement volume, BW 17, most of which are official or semi-official letters about technical legal or political questions. 10 See Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 16–17. 11 See my edition of De imperio, 79–82, where it is shown that important information pertaining to the first edition of this book is found only in the manuscript letters of Sarrau and Saumaise, for it is omitted in the 1654 published version of Sarrau’s correspondence. On mangled names in Grotius’s 1687 Epistolae quotquot, see Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 388.

breasting

the waves

449

importance of letter-writing within the Republic of Letters can hardly be overestimated, the present book and many other recent publications testify to it; but functions and characteristics of letters greatly differ: maintaining a correspondence is a sign of familiarity, but received letters may also be used in printed pamphlets, as Grotius did. Letters are personal, but meant for sharing—with the right persons, of course. They may be an exchange of learning, but also a form of political or doctrinal propaganda.12 However, scholars’ judgements of a particular letter’s sincerity or authenticity, or their more general assessments of its purpose, tone and characteristics, remain open to question. And, fourthly, the letters of seventeenth century scholars, or at least those of Grotius, are sparing of personal details. This said, we may draw some conclusions from an overview of the correspondence. Altogether there are around 7,725 letters to and from Grotius. Within our period there are 475 letters, 260 of them were written by Grotius. 13 In the appendix to this paper I give an overview of the addressees. This list too has its restrictions: it does not show, for instance, that we possess four times more letters from Grotius to Gerardus Vossius than vice versa. Vossius, who in this period supported Grotius with his vast knowledge of church history and theology, is the privileged correspondent anyhow, with almost a third of the letters addressed to him. We notice that Grotius exchanged no letters with strict Calvinists, with the exception of Gomarus. However, the one letter Grotius wrote him, is just an apology for a misunderstanding concerning Grotius’s funerary elegy for Arminius. 14 Other Calvinists among Grotius’s correspondents are moderate, learned ones, such as his friend Walaeus and the Leiden professor Polyander, or old friends like Daniel Heinsius and Janus Rutgers. It may be pointed out by the way that Grotius himself never uses the terms ‘Arminian’ or ‘Gomarist’, for that would make the conflict much too personal. Roman Catholic correspondents are absent from my corpus as well. Letters addressed to ministers and preachers are very rare; almost all those correspondents

12

209.

On these functions, see Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 15–6, 118, 123, 130, 143, 163,

BW 1, 176–581 + 70 letters in the supplement volume = 475, 671 pages altogether. On this (in)famous poem, see Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 116–117. In BW 1, 137, early June 1608, to Nic. van Reigersberch, Grotius claimed that Gomarus repeatedly expressed the wish to have a conversation with him. 13

14

450

harm-j an van dam

who do preach are actually learned theologians, apart perhaps from Grotius’s mentor Johannes Wtenbogaert. 15 Another remarkable fact is the relative preponderance of foreign correspondents; they received around 25 percent of the letters. Isaac Casaubon, who died already in 1614, got most of them; as Grotius’s most popular correspondent in England he was succeeded by John Overall, Regius Professor of Divinity in Cambridge and Dean of Saint Paul’s, later bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. In Germany Grotius had only one real correspondent, Georg Lingelsheim, Counsellor to the Elector Palatine in Heidelberg, a warm supporter of Grotius’s books. 16 There is just one letter addressed to a woman, BW 1, 213 which Grotius wrote to his wife Maria on 27 August 1611 during a duty trip. We shall now look at the ways in which Grotius addresses his correspondents and vice versa, as a first attempt to gauge the tone of these letters and the degree of intimacy between two correspondents. Of course this is slippery ground again: intimate friends may tacitly agree to certain formal opening words. Moreover, it is precisely these opening words which are subject to change by seventeenth-century editors. But some tendencies may be discerned: the default address used by Grotius is something like vir clarissime, or Heinsi doctissime.17 Learned theologians and the like are addressed in terms such as reverende. Johannes Wtenbogaert gets the most reverent addresses: vir plurimis mihi nominibus reverende and the like. 18 Two other men get a special treatment: Casaubon and Vossius. Since the deaths of Lipsius and Scaliger Casaubon was considered the most learned man of Europe, and this is reflected in the way Grotius addresses him: no formula is flowery enough, for instance Casaubone, vir undequaque 15 On their relationship, see Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 69–73, also Nellen, ‘Een tweespan voor de arminiaanse wagen: Grotius en Wtenbogaert’, in H.J.M. Nellen and J. Trapman (eds), De Hollandse jaren van Hugo de Groot (1583–1621) (Hilversum 1996), 161–177. 16 On Casaubon, see below; on Overall, see H. Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 37 n. 2 and 39 ff., on Lingelsheim, see A.E. Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik: die europäische Gelehrtenrepublik um 1600 im Spiegel der Korrespondenzen Georg Michael Lingelsheims (Tübingen 2004). 17 Vir (or name) clarissime (e.g. Cunaeus, Heinsius, Lingelsheim, Hotman, Polyander), doctissime (Heinsius, Meursius, Rutgers), eruditissime (Bertius, Casaubon), amplissime domine (Casaubon, Lingelsheim, Schotte). 18 Reverende: Overall, Polyander, Vossius, Walaeus, Wtenbogaert, reverendissime: De Dominis, Overall. To Wtenbogaert: vir mihi merito semper venerande (BW 1, 285), vir mihi maxime venerande (BW 1, 287), vir plurimis mihi nominibus reverende (BW 1, 288).

breasting

the waves

451

ut doctissime ita humanissime .19 Gerardus Vossius, finally, is the only one whom Grotius designates as ‘friend’, amicus. In most letters by far he is called v ir clarissime, or doctissime, but sometimes Vossius, and only Vossius, is addressed in terms of personal friendship, such as amicorum optime, summe amicorum, amicissime. This is underlined by one or two explicit sentences by Grotius: ‘I put my trust in your friendship and judgement, more than in that of all others.’ 20 We might expect that these letters are the most honest or revealing ones, and that seems more or less true. Vossius, on the other hand, sometimes strikes a deferential tone to Grotius, when he says that he had written a certain letter ‘as a Roman would do, not someone from our age, when men in an inferior position do not write in this way to men of your rank and station.’ Often Vossius rather formally calls Grotius Tua Altitudo (most other correspondents address Grotius as amplissimus), thus reminding us that Grotius was an aristocrat. 21 It is ironic that much later, when Grotius had become suspicious of everyone and demanded to be addressed as Excellency even by his closest friends, Vossius found it difficult to comply.22 The Grotius of the Correspondence has been characterized as ‘formal, uncompromising, and closemouthed’.23 His formality does seem borne out by the above forms of address. Glancing at the subjects of the 475 letters we conclude that most space is taken up by theological subjects. By far the longest letter is one from Vossius, 36 pages in print, a treatise on the right of the magistrate over the church, which aimed at exhorting Grotius to finish his

19 BW 1, 224, cf. 329: vir citra comparationem doctissime . On Casaubon, see M. Pattison, Isaac Casaubon (1559–1614) (Oxford 19822); G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes, ‘Twee vrienden, Isaac Casaubon en Hugo de Groot [ . . . ]’, in Opstellen aangeboden aan E.J. Kuiper (Groningen 1993), 37–56. 20 Vir Clarissime atque amicorum optime (BW 1, 498: dear sir, best of friends), vir clarissime atque optime (505), vir clarissime, summe amicorum (530, 555: dear sir, first among friends), vir clarissime atque amicissime (532, 552: dear sir, dearest friend). In BW 1, 434, of 27.XI.1615 Grotius states: ‘Non alium habeo cuius aut amicitiae aut iudicio plus confidam.’ 21 BW 1, 459, 23.VI.1616: ‘[ . . . ] more Romano, non seculi nostri, quo inferiores non sic ad tui ordinis ac dignitatis viros scribere solent.’ Vossius addresses Grotius as ‘amplissime’, ‘magnifice’ or ‘amplissime et magnifice’. 22 Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 537–539, see especially BW 12, 5039 (02.II.1641, to Willem de Groot), 5066 (18.II.1641, from Willem de Groot), and 5348 (02.IX.1641, from Vossius). 23 ‘Een vormelijke, rechtlijnige en gesloten man’, Nellen, ‘Een tweespan voor de arminiaanse wagen’, 174, repeated in Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 573.

452

harm-j an van dam

De imperio.24 In another epistolary treatise Grotius tried to refute the views of his former professor, the French theologian Pierre Du Moulin, on free will, grace, the way in which churches could be united and the relationship between magistrate and church. This letter is addressed to the Dutch ambassador in Paris, Gideon van den Boetzelaer, Lord of Langerak. The letter is part of a lost discussion with Du Moulin into which Grotius was dragged by Langerak, or so he claims. When Grotius sent drafts of his De satisfactione and De imperio to England and to the Palatinate, but not to France, this surely hangs together with his remark in this letter that the Anglican church is much closer to the ancient church than the French, both in its views on predestination and in its ecclesiastical hierarchy. 25 Even if we leave aside those two letters which are, in fact, short treatises, church and religion are the main dish of the letters in this period, and take up far more than half of the letters. Often Grotius’s own writings are the starting point of these discussions as in the correspondence with the Calvinist Walaeus about Meletius and De satisfactione.26 Church history is also a prominent theme. Walaeus, Vossius and Casaubon receive many pages concerning the teachings of Pelagius and his followers versus Augustine on free will and grace. Another important subject concerns religious tenets that are essential and common to all reformed, or even Christian, believers, and those that are ‘indifferent’, that is of only relative importance. Grotius attached great value to sticking only to essentials, claiming to follow Erasmus, but even enlightened Calvinists such as Walaeus could not agree with him. 27 Tolerance is a related subject, and by ‘tolerance’ Grotius as a politi24 BW 1, 447, 10.II.1616. The larger part of it, with more explanatory notes than in BW, is published in my edition of De imperio, 896–937. 25 See BW 1, 438, December 1615. The remark is on p. 431. See also H. Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 18–19 with n. 1. Casaubon agreed with Grotius: BW 1, 223, 06.II.1612. 26 On Meletius and Walaeus, see n. 6 above, on De satisfactione, E. Rabbie (ed.) (Assen 1990), see BW 1, 410, 411, 412, cf. 417A, 428, 457 and 475 (to and from Sandius), 482 and 488 (to and from Polyander), and 497 in which Vossius gives Episcopius’s judgement of De satisfactione. 27 On this central tenet of Grotius (at least until the 1640’s), see Grotius, Ordinum Pietas, Rabbie (ed.), § 90 (with Erasmus); J. Trapman, Erasmus in de Gouden eeuw [ . . . ] (Rotterdam 2006), 17; BW 1, 551, 14.XII.1617, to Lingelsheim; E. Rabbie, ‘Het irenisme van Hugo de Groot’, in Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde 1992–93 (Leiden 1994), 56–72; Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 123–124; 640 n. 53; also Grotius, Bona Fides Lubberti , in Ordinum Pietas, Rabbie (ed.), Appendix 9, §§ 41, 51–53.

breasting

the waves

453

cian and the States of Holland referred to social behaviour rather than to an ethical quality; it is remarkable that in the so-called Tolerance Resolution, the Decretum pro Pace Ecclesiarum of January 1614 the word tolerare and its cognates do not occur, but concordia does. While Grotius held that nothing should be enforced in religious matters— cogendo dissidia enim crescunt : force will only aggravate disputes—he was unable to understand that most believers also rejected enforced tolerance of different religious convictions.28 What strikes perhaps most is that points of view are discussed again and again in the letters, but that contemporary events get hardly any attention at all. The second most important issue seems to be literature and philology; as far as letters received by Grotius are concerned this is perhaps the main issue. Grotius speaks of his own poetry, of his edition of Lucan, but the letters are virtually silent on all his missions on behalf of the States of Holland, on his work for the city of Rotterdam, on riots in Amsterdam and the Hague. 29 To mention just a few examples: the edicts against the separation of Rotterdam Calvinists who went to church in two nearby hamlets caused much turmoil. However, the main subject of his letters around this time is the appearance of Grotius’s poetry, and on the day of the second edict Grotius writes to Overall that, fortunately, the troubles within the church are calming down, most people by far agree that this kind of controversy is not worth a schism. 30 These edicts were important enough for Grotius to be severely interrogated about during his imprisonment. In May 1617 the States decided that Grotius was to visit the city of Oudewater where trouble between ministers had arisen. There is nothing about it in the correspondence, to the point that it is even uncertain whether Grotius did actually go there. 31 In the letters there is no indication at all that Grotius expected the impending coup d’état of Maurice of Orange and his own arrest on 28 August. The only echo of Maurice’s overt support of the Calvinists since 1617 is a veiled remark to Lingelsheim about

BW 1, 170, 18.IX.1609 (p. 150), to Pierre Jeannin. Letters to and from Heinsius, Rutgers, Cunaeus, Meursius, and some of the correspondence with Willem de Groot and Vossius, are dedicated to these philological themes; on Grotius’s activities at this time, see also Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 229, on Lucan 157–158, on the poetry 179–180. 30 BW 1, 460, 26.VI.1616, p. 516: ‘Apud nos ecclesiae status paulatim ad quietem redit [ . . . ]; certe non esse ob tales controversias scindendam Ecclesiam fere inter omnes convenit’, cf. BW 1, 458, 23.VI.1616, to Vossius, on poetry. 31 Nellen, Hugo de Groot 190–198. 28 29

454

harm-j an van dam

‘the schism which now finds support in great promoters and accordingly makes great progress’. 32 So far we may conclude that these letters are about ideas much more than about (political) facts, let alone about Grotius’s daily life. They do not seem to be written with an eye on publication, and they are not much concerned with self-fashioning. Some letters are certainly well-written, but form does not seem to be the first concern. Many of them are peppered with Greek words, a sign that they are meant for learned and / or intimate correspondents. 33 Epigrammatic phrases and elegance are there, but Vossius, Casaubon and most of all Baudius equal or outdo Grotius. The overall impression is that these are letters about religion and politics. Grotius’s letters during the religious troubles: content and character One of the most important general characteristics of Grotius’s letters is that they are unsurprising, certainly at first sight: in them Grotius voices exactly the same opinions on religion and politics as in his published works. In this respect he differs from his friend Vossius, for example, who, in the first letter to Grotius that we have of him, asked, characteristically, not to mention this letter or Vossius’s real feelings.34 Grotius on the other hand, is a man of character, straightforward and uncompromising. His views are consistent: there should be unity in the public church, to be reached by insisting on essentials and leaving aside details, and those essentials are found in the early Christian church. The States of each province are sovereign in matters of religion, and should have absolute supremacy over the church in all matters except belief, which is left to the individual. Remonstrants do not at all subscribe to Pelagius’s heresy, let alone to Roman Catholic views on good works or to even worse heresies such as Socinian Antitrinitarianism.

32 BW 1, 551, 14.XII.1617: ‘[ . . . ] scissura quae nunc magnis subnixa fautoribus magnos fecit gradus.’ 33 Cf. E. Rummel, ‘The Use of Greek in Erasmus’ Letters’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 30 (1981), 55–92. 34 BW 1, 299, 02.XI.1613, p. 276: ‘Velim [ . . . ] apud neminem de literis aut iudicio meo facias mentionem’ (Please, do not mention this letter or my views to anyone).

breasting

the waves

455

In his letters Grotius not only puts forward the same views as in his books, frequently he does so in the same words, in both cases stuffed with learned quotations taken from works by others, mainly Lutherans and Anglicans.35 The only difference is, perhaps, that in his letters he is even less prepared to mince words. Thus he never uses the negative word papista for the Roman Catholics in his published works of this period, but in the letters the term occurs a few times.36 In them Grotius also gives free rein to his contempt for the plebs, and especially vents his rage on preachers and theologians. 37 In a letter to Polyander he uses strong words about ‘ministers who from the pulpit vomit abuse on the magistrates, yet cry out that their kind may not be touched’, 38 and in another letter to Vossius he gives a very sarcastic description of a meeting of reconciliation where the Calvinist delegation demands for an equal number of Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants to be present, ‘which greatly contributed to peace, for in this way they did not have to share the Lord’s Supper.’ 39 In his works Grotius does also 35 See for instance the many parallels between letters and books in the commentaries by Rabbie and myself on Ordinum Pietas, De satisfactione and De imperio (via the indices of references to Grotius’s own works). 36 BW 1, 215, 11.XI.1611, and 221, 11.I.1612, both to Walaeus; 529, 08.IX.1617, to Lingelsheim. In Ordinum Pietas § 94 the term is used in a quotation from Lubbertus. 37 On plebs: BW 1, 215, 11.XI.1611, to Walaeus: ‘apud indoctam plebem’ (in the presence of the uneducated masses), 470, 13.VIII.1616, to Du Maurier: ‘plebs horrendum et exitiale spectaculum praebuit’ (the mob offered a horrible, destructive spectacle), 514, 17.VI.1617, to Vossius: ‘non plebi sed eruditis’ (not for the mob but for educated men). On theologians and preachers: BW 1, 224, 07.II.1612, to Casaubon: ‘(odia) quae nisi maneant, theologorum praecipui regnum se suum tenere non posse arbitrantur’ ((hatred) the chief theologians are of the opinion that they will lose their power unless it persists), 278, 05.IX.1613, to Lingelsheim: ‘utinam tandem discant theologi concordiam mentium retinere [ . . . ] aut saltem plebem a suis certaminibus immunem et quietam pati [ . . . ]. Sed ego in theologis perparum spei video’ (if only the theologians could learn to remain of one mind, or at least to leave the common man alone and free from their disputes [ . . . ]. But I have almost no hopes of theologians). 38 BW 1, 369, 14.IX.1614, to Polyander: ‘At isti homines qui in magistratus convicia vomunt e plaustro politicum ordinem crudeliter proscindunt; si quid in ipsos pari iure dicitur, clamant ordinem et, quod plus est, ecclesiam laedi.’ In BW 1, 380, 23.X.1614, to Lingelsheim, Grotius compares Sibrandus Lubbertus to a mad dog, states that wise men know that is is almost impossible to cure full-grown vices, especially in the case of theologians, and says that ‘audacia theologorum quorundam’, the impudence of certain theologians, insulted the elite. 39 BW 1, 429, 07.XI.1615, p. 418; cf. 380, 23.X.1614, to Lingelsheim: ‘eccelesiastici quidam [ . . . ] contemptores magistratuum sub ecclesiae nomine ferociunt’ (some ministers, scorners of the magistrates, are raving under the colours of the church), 470, 13.VIII.1616, to Du Maurier: ‘(mala) recrudescunt eorum flabellis quos omnibus pacis suasores esse oportuit. Hi sunt qui [ . . . ] per Ecclesiae rupturam impetum in

456

harm-j an van dam

criticize ministers and theologians, but less severely. 40 Thus his letters give a better picture of his anticlericalism, something which he shared with, or perhaps learned from, his patron Oldenbarnevelt. Both in the letters and in his books Grotius claims ignorance of theological questions, and both letters and books refute this claim: in his letter to Gomarus already, Grotius claimed that he did not at all understand the questions over which Arminius and Gomarus disagreed, and he repeated this in a letter to his friend Janus Rutgers. 41 After his arrest, nine years later, Grotius still maintained that he ‘was not a theologian’, and in the letters to Vossius especially, Grotius asked for theological advice time and again. On the other hand, his long letters on the early councils which condemned Pelagianism and his books De satisfactione and De imperio in particular prove that Grotius did possess an extensive knowledge of theology. He submitted his long letter to Du Moulin first to Vossius, who could find nothing in it to criticize, and praised Grotius for his theological knowledge, not for the first time.42 As the letters show, Grotius prepared his books by reading up church history and borrowing literature from Vossius. 43 Perhaps he was somewhat less at ease with dogmatic theology, although he seems to have had a good understanding of that as well, as Vossius implies. On the one hand the letters are frank and explicit: in the exchange of letters with his friend Walaeus—who held different religious conrempublicam faciunt’ (they fan the flames, the troubles break out again by the doing of men who should urge peace upon everyone. These are the men who break up the Church and thereby invade the State). 40 E.g. Bona Fides in Ordinum pietas, Rabbie (ed.), § 1: ‘Ecclesiis putat [Grotius] melius fore consultum, si pastores quidam essent magistratuum reverentiores’ (Grotius thinks that it would be more helpful to the churches if some preachers showed more respect to the magistrates). The most vehement passage in De imperio is 9.20: ‘Qui [= Pastores] “clavium” nomen tribuniciis contionibus obtendunt et summarum potestatum facta [ . . . ] traducunt palam, idque apud plebem’ (preachers, who use the word ‘keys’ as a pretext for their demagogic sermons, publicly exposing what the magistrates do, and that before the common people); see my edition p. 794. 41 BW 1, 181, 24.XII.1609, to Gomarus: ‘Caeterum, quae Arminio tecum et cum bonis multis disconvenere, ea nec satis scio nec si sciam me temere interponam [ . . . ].’ BW 1, 182, 24.XII.1609, to Janus Rutgers: ‘[controversiae] quarum magnam partem me non intelligere ingenue profiteor’ (questions the better part of which I am unable to understand, to tell the truth). 42 See BW 1, 434, 27.XI.1615, and Vossius’s reply, 437, 30.XI.1615. In BW 1, 299, 02.XI.1613 already (see note 7), Vossius stated that Grotius’s opponents could not stand the idea that someone who was not a theologian was so much at home with the subject. 43 BW 1, 359, 10.VIII.1614, to Vossius on reading church history. On borrowing books, e.g. De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 38–39, BW 1, 449, 23.II.1616.

breasting

the waves

457

victions—the tone is intimate: Grotius is explicit about the stupidity of the people and outspoken against popery; he is grateful for Walaeus’s personal letter (amicissimae litterae) and glad that they agree, although they express it differently; sometimes he candidly states that, with all respect, he cannot concur with Walaeus’s view on divine justice. 44 In a letter to Frederic Sandius, a burgomaster of Arnhem, Grotius seems to present himself more or less openly as a follower of the Remonstrants.45 Perhaps the most telling letters are those to his friend Casaubon. The two men had exchanged over twenty-five letters before they first met, in London in 1613, where Casaubon had moved from France in 1610, after the murder of Henri IV. This was really a close friendship, which Grotius fondly remembered after twenty-five years as one of the best things that ever happened to him. 46 Even before they met, Grotius wrote at length about religious policy and the unity of the church: ‘unity of the churches is the final goal. This could be reached if James I would be prepared to convoke and preside over an international synod of all Protestant churches, held in England. All princes, and the States of the Dutch Republic as well, would surely answer the Royal Theologian’s call. The Roman Catholics would best be kept aside for the moment, but the Eastern churches might perhaps be invited, if Casaubon thinks this is a good idea.’ But then Grotius reins himself in: ‘pardon me, I am writing too freely, and let myself be carried away.’ 47 Casaubon replied that the King was overjoyed with Grotius’s letter and applauded the latter’s views on reconciliation. Only, this idea of convoking a synod asked for some more consideration. 48 In a later letter, Casaubon added that James wished to be a member of the church rather than its head. 49 But Grotius did not give up. A few weeks later he suggested that learned men such as Casaubon and many others in England ‘should take all the protestant confessions, recently collected in a useful book, and remove all controversial articles; the remainder

BW 1, 214, 215, 216, 221 (with the quotation). BW 1, 312, 27.I.1614: ‘[ . . . ] Addam et illud libere mihi Remon<stran>tium sententiam non quatenus cum altera pugnat sed quatenus minus [ . . . ] [some letters missing] et modestiorem et tutiorem videri.’ (I will add candidly that the view of the Remonstrants seems more modest and safer to me, not because it is more in conflict with the other view, but because it is less [ . . . ]). See also below. 46 BW 10, 4096, 07.V.1639, to Gronovius. 47 BW 1, 219, 07.I.1612 (p. 192–193). 48 BW 1, 223, 06.II.1612. 49 BW 1, 226, 22.II.1612 (p. 198). 44 45

458

harm-j an van dam

could form the basis for a unified church. However, if Casaubon did not like the idea, he should forget all about this letter, which was written in confidence.’50 In this case it is evident, and it has been remarked by several scholars, that these letters are anything but spontaneous: Grotius knew very well that Casaubon showed these letters to King James, and most of the ideas contained in them came from Grotius’s master Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. Grotius himself says as much: although in his first letter he had said that he wrote liberius (too freely) and impetu (was carried away), in the next one he stated that what he had suggested about a Protestant synod was not written rashly or just of his own accord, but after due consideration by several men of experience in religion and politics. Now, with James young and strong, the time is ripe for resistance against Socinian ideas and for revision of the confession.51 The choice of these two subjects, neither of which was relevant to English church policy, but both of which were topical in the Dutch Republic, proves again that these letters to Casaubon are not at all spontaneous or straightforward. 52 In fact, they were an attempt to involve King James into the Dutch troubles and influence him in favour of the Remonstrants, just as Van Oldenbarnevelt and the States in March 1613 managed to make James sign a letter in favour of the authority of the States and against a national synod. 53 The letters to Casaubon show most clearly what is true for all these letters about religion, Church and State: if they do resemble the books so much, and if most of them are sent to foreigners, like his books, they are meant as political propaganda, for winning over England and the Palatinate to the views of the States of Holland. And then they are perhaps not quite the straightforward, personal communications they seem to be. In other, less evident, ways as well Grotius was not as candid as one would like to think: why is he using the term papista to Walaeus, also to Lingelsheim, but not to others? Perhaps in order to please his correspondents, for these men were more anti-Catholic than Grotius BW 1, 229, 05.III.1612. BW 1, 224, 07.II.1612: ‘[ . . . ] addo [ . . . ] neque temere me neque meo solius consilio scripsisse, sed re prius diligenter et mecum et cum aliquot viris tum religione tum prudentia eximiis in omnem partem examinata; [ . . . ] muniet consensus ille communis Ecclesias singulas ab Arii et Samosateni veneno.’ 52 On the letters to Casaubon and Grotius’s agenda, see now Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 122–123, 130, 134–135. 53 See Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 20–21 and 27 with notes. 50 51

breasting

the waves

459

himself and used the term themselves, generally in very negative contexts, or at least the theologians of the Palatinate to whom Lingelsheim was to show Grotius’s letters and books did. 54 In Grotius’s correspondence with Lingelsheim on the other hand, he is often very critical of Lutherans. ‘They disturbed the ecclesiastical peace in several German States, and it was good that the Landesherren stopped up their mouth, for they departed much more from the ancient church than Remonstrants do.’55 But surely the Lutherans belonged to the same Protestant churches which Grotius had wanted James to convoke to England for a synod. Only, it was more expedient to criticise them to his Palatinate connections. Even Grotius’s apparent ‘confession’ that he leans to the Remonstrant side in his letter to Sandius is not quite what it seems: he says, emphasizing his candour by using (again) the word liber, that in his eyes the views of the Remonstrants are more modest and less dangerous, not, I think, because these views are more true, but because the Remonstrants are more peaceful than their opponents. 56 That should persuade his friend the burgomaster that Remonstrants are best. We see Grotius being somewhat less than honest in other areas as well: he explains to his friend Vossius that a certain letter received by Vossius from a minister aims at eliciting indiscretions from him, and spells out to him the vague and noncommittal answers he must give—enough to make us wary in interpreting Grotius’s own letters. 57 Grotius’s friend Petrus Bertius helped him in collecting passages from ancient theologians, and in his turn asked Grotius for advice about a book against the German theologian Johannes Piscator, which Grotius gave, ‘in a friendly and open fashion’, as he says himself. But then he immediately wrote a long letter to Wtenbogaert in order to criticise everything Bertius had said. In fact the letter requested Wtenbogaert to assist in impeding publication of Bertius’s book, successfully as it De turned out.58 On the other hand, when Grotius was working on 54 David Paraeus uses the term papista more than once in his judgement of Grotius’s De imperio, see my De imperio, 952–955, also 39–40. 55 Cf. BW 1, 477, 24.IX.1616, to Lingelsheim. Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 750–751. 56 See note 45 above. The missing word(s) are less important here (perhaps vult or poscit?). 57 BW 1, 429, 07.XI.1615. 58 BW 1, 358, 03.VIII.1614. Wtenbogaert noted on the back of the letter: ‘Important criticism of Bertius’s book by Grotius’ (Grotius [ . . . ] de Bertii historia Pelagiana censura notabilis). On this book by Bertius and also on other hazardous actions by him, see Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 166–169.

460

harm-j an van dam

imperio Vossius and Grotius decided not to let Wtenbogaert in on this, in spite of persistent enquiries by this old friend of Grotius, who had written a Dutch book on the subject in which exactly the same views were expressed. Their reluctance is apparent in the letters the two exchange, but no reason is given. I suppose that it is King James’s negative view of Wtenbogaert: the king had become more and more disenchanted with Wtenbogaert and his books, and it would perhaps be undesirable for Grotius and his new book, meant for an international public, to be associated with him. 59 If Grotius was not always quite straightforward perhaps, one reason is that he was a lawyer, used to special pleading. More important, however, seems his unshakeable belief that he knew what was best for country and church, a belief which sometimes blinded him to reality. He saw it as his duty to accomplish this end by all possible means. On the one hand Grotius was a shrewd judge of men: from the letter which he wrote to Oldenbarnevelt during his mission to England, it is evident that he did realize that the archbishop of Canterbury and the English ambassador in the Dutch Republic were his enemies. 60 And there is some truth in his penetrating remark that both James and the archbishop were Puritans at heart without fully realising it—this is vintage Grotius, especially when he adds that they will easily be cured by his explanations.61 On the other hand he misjudged Bishop Andrewes, that cool politician who turned his back on Grotius. 62 Altogether I think that Grotius simply could not imagine people not giving in to his arguments, since his own views were so indisputably right. Correspondents

and misunderstandings

Why did Grotius fundamentally misunderstand his foreign correspondents? For he seems to have thought that Bishops Overall and Andrewes, King James and the German Princes, first of all the Elector Palatine, would come to the rescue of the Remonstrants. Instead, Van Oldenbarnevelt was executed, Grotius imprisoned, and the foreigners came to attend the Synod of Dordt, where the Remonstrants were

59 60 61 62

Cf. Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 962 n. 3. BW 1, 263, 18.V.1613. BW 1, 259, 19.IV.1613, to Oldenbarnevelt. Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 41 ff.; Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 136–137.

breasting

the waves

461

humiliated and sent away. One factor in Grotius’s failure to understand may be that he did not always understand what his foreign correspondents tried to say—more important factors are, of course, the national and international political constellation, and also Grotius’s own stubbornness, optimism and naivety. A closer study is needed than I have undertaken as yet, but I give some impressions. Broadly speaking, in both the English and the German letters the structure matters. In the former case English understatement may have misled Grotius and in the latter case German enthusiasm. Both Grotius and Casaubon begin their letters with many laudatory remarks and expressions of admiration for the other. 63 Grotius himself then comes up with suggestions for action such as we have seen. Casaubon repeatedly supplements his own compliments by all the positive remarks James had made about Grotius’s plans. In the second, shorter part of such letters from Casaubon we read what is, in my eyes, a clear ‘No’ from the King. Yet it seems as if Grotius did not hear this. There is no letter from this period which shows us Grotius understanding that James disagreed with his politics in every respect. One reason may be that James’s rejection mainly concerned things on which Grotius had no influence, such as the pro-French attitude of Van Oldenbarnevelt, and also irrelevant points, such as the appointment of Vorstius as Arminius’s successor, or Grotius’s cocksureness, rather than his views on Church and State. However, both Casaubon, and also John Overall after 1614, do perhaps understate what James, or the successive archbishops of Canterbury, really thought. In Casaubon’s letters James’s ‘No’ to practical requests comes generally as a kind of afterthought and wrapped in excuses. Overall stated that there were only ‘a few things’ ( pauca) in Grotius’s De imperio with which bishop Andrewes and other learned men would disagree. Both before and after this statement, however, Overall mentioned some criticisms which touched upon the heart of the book. Grotius replied that he would, of course, listen to their arguments, but that Casaubon and Grotius himself had explained why it was otherwise. 64 His German friend Lingelsheim, on the other hand, praised all Grotius’s books into the sky, and wished him to publish everything he had

Posthumus Meyjes, ‘Twee vrienden, Isaac Casaubon en Hugo de Groot’, 41. BW 1, 539, 05.X.1617, and 543, (around 30.X.)1617. See Grotius, De imperio, Van Dam (ed.), 41–44. 63 64

462

harm-j an van dam

written.65 Grotius saw that it was inexpedient to publish hisMeletius and his Annales, but Lingelsheim kept pestering him especially for the latter book. This should have made Grotius more wary, but he apparently decided to ignore all the negative feedback Lingelsheim gave him: the agent of the States General, Pieter van Brederode, criticised Grotius’s De imperio, but Lingelsheim told Grotius how stubborn and narrowminded Van Brederode was. Lingelsheim sent Grotius an unfavourable review of De imperio by David Paraeus, the most respected theologian of the Palatinate, but Grotius concluded (correctly) that Paraeus had not really read it, and (incorrectly) that therefore his views were unimportant. Then Lingelsheim wrote that Paraeus declined writing something to calm down the Counter-Remonstrants, but added optimistic words about interventions of Frederick IV in the Palatinate as an example for the States. In two letters Lingelsheim combined the highest praise for Grotius’s new books with unwelcome news: that Professor Abraham Scultetus was no more convinced by Grotius’s books than Paraeus, and that the theologians in the Palatinate had already chosen sides against the Remonstrants. 66 ‘Yet everybody loves Grotius’s books and they should all be published, including the Annales.’ It seems to me that, in distinction to Casaubon, Lingelsheim tends to begin his letters with the bad news, ending on extensive, enthusiastic praise. Perhaps this confused Grotius, just as it was easy to misunderstand English understatement. Is his claim to Lingelsheim on receiving Overall’s letters, that English bishops and scholars had applauded his book when the reverse is true the result of such misunderstanding? Or is it just a way of keeping up appearances? Or unfounded optimism? It is time for a few concluding words on Grotius as a correspondent in the years 1610–1618. I may have suggested that all his letters about Church and State are no more than political propaganda, where the end justifies the means. Is Grotius really just a messenger of the States of Holland? Is all this arguing to his fellow regents, and to foreigners and their sovereigns, that ministers must obey magistrates, be tolerant of their colleagues with different views, or convoke a general synod, really nothing but politics and pressure? I do not think so. In the first place, that would be a very narrow view of letter-writing, and of human relations in general. Secondly, Grotius himself, as we have seen, was

65 66

E.g. BW 1, 561, 14.I.1618 (p. 606). BW 1, 538, 08.XI.1617 and 561, 14.I.1618.

breasting

the waves

463

firmly convinced that the messages or views which he conveyed were true and necessary. Moreover, there is also another side to the question, that of Grotius the scholar and theologian. When Grotius and Casaubon finally met in London, they were both overjoyed at meeting a kindred spirit. But already before they met, Grotius obviously took pride and pleasure in theological arguments and in doing theological and historical research. The letters of these years should also be read as an account of Grotius’s research, of his enjoyment of it, and of his attempts to make the best possible uses of his knowledge. To Grotius church history and the interpretation of Scripture counted for more than means to an end, and his later life bears this out. To return to Grotius’s Calvinist friend Walaeus, in his Opera Omnia there is a curious poem on Grotius swimming in the sea. While he is breasting the waves the Nereids, coveting him, try to drag Grotius down, but Phoebus saves the submerged scholar. 67 The poem suggests to us the image of Grotius confidently cleaving the sea, aiming straight for his goal, but sometimes swimming under water.

67 A. Walaeus, Opera Omnia (Leiden 1647–1648), vol. II, 507. Grotius himself composed a poem in 1607 on what was perhaps the same occasion, when his (then future) brother in law Johan saved him from drowning, see H. Grotius,De Dichtwerken /The Poetry 1 2a/b 4, E. Rabbie (ed.) (Assen-Maastricht 1992), 451–453, also Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 35 with n. 64, and, for the same metaphor from swimming, 316.

464

harm-j an van dam Appendix: Letters from Grotius, 21.X.1609—17.VIII.1618 Correspondent Vossius, Gerardus Joannes Casaubon, Isaac Heinsius, Daniel Groot, Willem de Lingelsheim, Georg Michael Wtenbogaert, Johannes Bertius, Petrus Meursius, Johannes Maurier, Benjamin Aubéry du Overall, John Rutgers, Janus States of Zeeland Court of Holland Oldenbarnevelt, Johan van Walaeus, Antonius Boetzelaer, Gideon van den (Langerak) Hotman, Jean Thou, Jacques-Auguste de Cunaeus, Petrus Elmenhorst, Geverhart Hooft, Pieter Cornelisz Polyander a Kerckhoven, Johannes Board of the States of Holland Colterman, David Dominis, Marcus Antonius de Episcopius, Simon Gevartius, Johannes Casperius Gomarus, Franciscus Huygens, Christiaen Myle, Abraham van der Pontanus, Johannes Isacius Raphelengius Jr, Franciscus Reigersberch, Maria van Sande, Frederik van den Schotte, Apollonius Scriverius, Petrus States General States of Holland Winwood, Ralph Witte, Boudewijn de

Number of letters 80 22 21 20 16 12 10 9 8 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 260

AT THE HEART OF THE TWELVE YEARS’ TRUCE CONTROVERSIES: CONRAD VORSTIUS, GERARD VOSSIUS AND HUGO GROTIUS Cor S.M. Rademaker ss.cc. (’s-Hertogenbosch) The period of the Twelve Years’ Truce between the Southern and the Northern Netherlands (1609–1621) was one of the most turbulent episodes of seventeenth-century Dutch history. The theological battle between proponents and opponents of the severe Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, represented by the Leiden professors Franciscus Gomarus and Jacobus Arminius, had become a church conflict that was waged with extreme bitterness not only from university chairs but also from pulpits in churches. The civil authorities were confronted with a more and more extreme polarization between the so called ‘Remonstrants’ and ‘Counter-Remonstrants’. Under the leadership of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the States of Holland tried to restore peace in the Reformed Churches, but in vain. What is more, the church battle became more and more caught up in an almost inextricable entanglement of all sorts of political, regional, local, social and personal oppositions and conflicts.1 At the heart of the truce controversies that made the period of the Truce so turbulent were three scholars who tried to preserve the peace in church and country by a scholarly approach to the problems of that period: the Leiden professor Conrad Vorstius from Steinfurt, 2 the rec-

* I am endebted to Father Edwin van Veen ss.cc. and Mr. Brian Blackford for their help with the English translation. 1 Modern literature with bibliographies used for this study: J. Israel, The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477–1806 (Oxford 1995) with its Dutch translation De Republiek 1477–1806 (Franeker 1996); recently published: J. Rohls, ‘Calvinism, Arminianism and Socinianism in the Netherlands until the Synod of Dort’, in M. Mulsow and J. Rohls (eds), Socinianism and Arminianism. Antitrinitarians, Calvinists and Cultural Exchange in Seventeenth-Century Europe (Leiden-Boston 2005), 3–48. 2 On Conrad Vorstius (1569–1622): H.Y. Groenewegen, ‘Conradus Vorstius’, in NNBW 3, 1342–1344 [ NNBW = P.C. Molhuysen, P.J. Blok, and K.H. Kossmann (eds), Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 10 vols (Leiden 1911–1937)]; C. van der Woude, Sibrandus Lubbertus (Kampen 1963), esp. chapter 9, 198–258; Idem, ‘Conrad Vorstius’, in BLGPN 1, 407–410 [BLGPN = Biografisch Lexicon voor de Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse Protestantisme (Kampen 1978–2006)].

466

cor s.m. rademaker

tor of the Latin School of Dordrecht, Gerardus Joannes Vossius, 3 and the famous scholar and diplomat Hugo Grotius.4 However, their efforts at peace-making were shipwrecked on the rock of doctrinal fundamentalism in the church and in the storm of the battle for authority between state and church. Let us follow this history in seven snapshots. Friday, 1 November 1613 On Friday, 1 November 1613 rector Gerard Vossius is working all evening on a letter to Hugo Grotius, the pensionary of the city of Rotterdam, who had written to Vossius with an urgent request to make critical suggestions for the second edition of his sensational book Ordinum pietas. Speed is of the essence, as Grotius writes: ‘The second edition will be set at the beginning of next week.’5 Vossius quickly collects a lot of data and it becomes a long letter. But after midnight he puts an end to his late work: ‘Verum somnolentum me—nam media nox est—ad meras nugas delabi sentio.’ Nearly succumbing to sleep, he has started to waffle. It is already Saturday 2 November when Vossius closes up the letter. Yet, the very same Saturday Grotius writes to Vossius thanking him for his help. 6

3 On Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577–1649): C.S.M. Rademaker ss.cc., Life and Work of Gerardus Joannes Vossius (Assen 1981) and Idem, Leven en werk van Gerardus Joannes Vossius (Hilversum 1999). An inventory of Vossius’s correspondence: IVC [G.A.C. van der Lem and C.S.M. Rademaker, Inventory of the Correspondence of Gerardus Joannes Vossius (Assen-Maastricht 1993)]. The text of many letters in Epp. Col. [Paulus Colomesius (ed.), Gerardi Joannis Vossii et clarorum virorum ad eum epistolae (London 1690; Augsburg 1691; London 1693)]: Part 1, letters written by Vossius; Part 2, letters written to Vossius. The numbers of the letters are the same in the three editions; see also ULA RK [University Library of Amsterdam, manuscripts of the Remonstrant Congregation in Amsterdam, on permanent loan]. 4 On Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) see his correspondence and the modern editions with commentary of his works from this period: BW [Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius, P.C. Molhuysen et al. (eds), 17 vols (The Hague 1928–2001)]; Hugo Grotius, Ordinum Hollandiae ac Westfrisiae Pietas (Leiden 1613, and edited by E. Rabbie, Leiden etc. 1995); Defensio fidei catholicae de satisfactione Christi adversus Faustum Socinum Senensem (Leiden 1617, and edited by E. Rabbie, Assen-Maastricht 1990); De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra (Leiden 1647, and edited by H.-J. van Dam, Leiden etc. 2001). April 2007 saw the publication of Henk Nellen’s fine Grotius biography: Hugo de Groot. Een leven in strijd om de vrede, 1583–1645 (Amsterdam 2007). 5 Grotius to Vossius, 1 XI 1613 (BW 1, 298). Quotation on p. 273: ‘Nam nova editio sub initium sequentis septimanae adornatur.’ 6 Vossius to Grotius, 2 XI 1613 ( BW 1, 299). Grotius to Vossius, 2 XI 1613 ( BW 1, 300).

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

467

What had gone before? Jacobus Arminius, professor of Theology at Leiden University, had died on 16 October 1610. The Pensionary of Holland, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, had then pushed through the appointment of Conrad Vorstius as Arminius’s successor. Vorstius was professor of Theology at the Gymnasium Illustre of Steinfurt in the border region between Germany and the Netherlands. He was a great scholar, a pious and amiable man, and, although a Reformed theologian, very broad-minded on certain points of Calvinist doctrine. When the news broke of the coming appointment, a storm of protest burst out in the conservative camp. Even the self-appointed theologian King James I of England lent his voice to the chorus of protest. However, the curators of Leiden University appointed Vorstius, and on 24 May 1611 he was inaugurated by the senate. But because of the storm of protest, poor Vorstius was never able to lecture in Leiden. Still drawing his salary he retired with his wife and children to Gouda to prepare his defence. 7 Gerard Vossius, rector of the school of Dordrecht, had contact with prominent Remonstrants as well as with decision-making CounterRemonstrants. Thus he was a friend of the Remonstrant Petrus Bertius, the subrector of Leiden’s Collegium theologicum for future Protestant ministers,8 but he also had a close relationship and friendship with Professor Franciscus Gomarus, party chief of the Counter-Remonstrants in Leiden. 9 In strongly Counter-Remonstrant Dordrecht, Vossius tried for the time being to be as neutral as possible. Only rarely, and then mostly in personal letters to relatives and friends, did he show something of what moved him. Thus at the beginning of 1612 he sent his brother-in-law Isaac Diamantius, a Remonstrant minister, a newly published book by Conrad Vorstius with the request not to talk about it with other people. About himself Vossius stated that he would rather not write about theological quarrels, as in fact he really did not know enough about them. 10 However, there came a moment that even the peace-loving Vossius had to take sides. An important man had sided with the cause of 7 Van der Woude, Sibrandus Lubbertus, 198–258; J. den Tex, Oldenbarnevelt 3 (Haarlem 1966), 191–223; Rohls, ‘Calvinism, Arminianism and Socinianism’, 21–29. 8 On Petrus Bertius (1565–1629): NNBW 1, 320–323; BLGNP 2, 63–64; L.J.M. Bosch, Petrus Bertius (1565–1629) (Meppel 1979). 9 On Franciscus Gomarus (1563–1641): NNBW 7, 483; G.P. van Itterzon, Franciscus Gomarus (The Hague 1929; reprint Groningen-Castricum 1979). 10 Rademaker, Life and Work . . .Vossius, 91, and Idem, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 83–84. Vossius to Isaac Diamantius, ULA RK III E, 85.

468

cor s.m. rademaker

Fig. 27. David Bailly, Portrait of Gerardus Joannes Vossius, pen drawing 1625. Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet / Rijksmuseum, inv.nr. RP-T-1963-259

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

469

Fig. 28. Gerardus Joannes Vossius, Letter to Hugo Grotius (23 October 1614). Leiden University Library, ms. Pap. 3 (V)

470

cor s.m. rademaker

Oldenbarnevelt and Conrad Vorstius, no one less than the Pensionary of Rotterdam, Hugo Grotius. In October 1613 he published his Ordinum Hollandiae ac Westfrisiae pietas, a fierce juridical-theological defence of the ecclesiastical policy of the States of Holland. In this book Grotius described the conflict about the predestination theology, defended the right of heads of state to enforce peace in the churches, and analysed the events surrounding the appointment of Conrad Vorstius as professor in Leiden. 11 When Grotius’s book came out, Gerard Vossius had just made the acquaintance of its author, and he decided to become his helper in the battle for ecclesiastical and political peace. Both men, though neither of them Remonstrant, considered it their bounden duty to combat every moral repression and denunciation, irrespective of who would be the victim of it. 12 Grotius’s Ordinum pietas was the subject of the letter Vossius wrote in the night of 1 to 2 November 1613, praising the book and giving his honest opinion about the commotion resulting from it. For that he blamed especially overzealous theologians, such as Grotius’s opponent Sibrandus Lubbertus. They accused Grotius of lack of knowledge of theology, but they themselves did not know anything about the history of theology (‘in Patrum lectione plane sunt peregrini’). Sad as it was, one could not help laughing at their ignorance: ‘Haec ego uti cum dolore aliquo, ita nec absque risu scribo. Et te quoque risum vix tenere plane habeo persuasum.’ 13 Then the letter gives some suggestions about quotations from Christian authors and church history. Conrad Vorstius is mentioned only once, as the scholar who is despised by Sibrandus Lubbertus.14 Monday, 11 August 1614 Nine months later, Vossius wrote another long letter to his friend Grotius. He had every reason to be anxious. Dordrecht was buzzing with rumours about him: Conrad Vorstius was said to have recom11 Grotius, Ordinum pietas (1995; see note 4); C. van der Woude, Hugo Grotius en zijn ‘Pietas Ordinum’ (Kampen 1961). 12 Rademaker, Life and Work . . .Vossius, 91–96, and Idem, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 105–108. 13 Vossius to Grotius, 2 XI 1613 ( BW 1, 299), p. 275. 14 The same letter, p. 275: ‘Tales profecto hostes minus tibi metuendi, quam Sibrando Vorstius; quem tantopere contemnit.’

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

471

mended him as a suitable candidate for the professorship of Theology in the Gymnasium Illustre at Steinfurt, since Vorstius’s successor at this school, Hermann Ravensperger, had decided to move to the University of Groningen. However, the Count of Bentheim insisted on a professor who would be completely orthodox in his thinking, and he had ordered that inquiries be made about Vossius. 15 The Dordrecht Protestants were at a loss; they had never detected any trace of heterodoxy in the rector, but hearing now that he was recommended by the unorthodox Vorstius they suspended their positive judgement. Was Gerard Vossius a secret friend of the German scholar and did he harbour the same unorthodox ideas, or was Conrad Vorstius trying to place the rector in a bad light? Gerard Vossius himself suspected exactly how the whole affair had come about.16 He wrote to Grotius: I know that the Protestants here who reason like that are completely wrong. As it happens, I have never met Conrad Vorstius and have never written to him nor received a letter from him. Neither do I agree with his ideas, which put God’s omnipresence and omniscience in question. I also heard that he does not really intend to harm my good reputation. However, because he cannot recommend a Remonstrant [ . . .], he prefers to recommend a Conter-Remonstrant but yet one seeking unity and peace [ . . .]. I am always prepared to confess honestly that I detest the opinions about God that are attributed—whether correctly or not, I do not know—to Conrad Vorstius. 17

15 Vossius to Grotius, 11 VIII 1614 ( BW 1, 360; Epp. Col. 1, 16; IVC 14.08.11). For the Steinfurt Gymnasium, Vorstius and Vossius, cf. Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 96–100; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 88–90; 400 Jahre Arnoldinum 1588–1988 (Steinfurt 1988), esp. P. Abels, ‘Das Arnoldinum und die Niederlande während seiner ersten Blütezeit’, 78–98. 16 Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 96–100; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 88–90; 400 Jahre Arnoldinum, 87–89. 17 Vossius to Grotius, 11 VIII 1614 (see note 15): ‘Ego in utroque eos falli longissime scio. Nam neque Vorstius vidi unquam, neque vel ipse ad eum scripsi, vel literas ab eo unquam accepi: neque etiam opinionem eius sequor, quatenus quidem aut omnipraesentiam aut omniscientiam Dei convellere putatur. Sed neque Vorstius, uti audio, aliquam nominis nostri depreciationem proposuit sibi: verum cum ex Remonstrantium caussae aperte addictis neminem commendare liceret per iunioris Comitis matrem, proximum putavit, ut eum commendaret, quem concordiae ac pacis inter eos studiosum audiret, qui se a Contraremonstrantium caussa neutiquam separassent. [ . . . ] Semper paratus sum ingenua confessione testari me alienissimum esse ab iis opinionibus de Deo, quarum Vorstius—verene an secus haut disputo—a plurimis insimulatur.’

472

cor s.m. rademaker

Gerard Vossius is perfectly aware of the dangerous reasoning in Conrad Vorstius’s Tractatus theologicus de Deo of 1608, 18 but he refuses in advance to accuse the author of evil intentions. The letter to Hugo Grotius carries on as follows. You are my wittness of what I have clearly told you more than often: Vorstius sometimes reasons in his book in such a way that it seems that he wants to poison men’s minds with monstrous ideas about God, never before heard in God’s Church. If that is not the case, then he has really behaved most carelessly by writing in such a way about these essentially important matters. I only hope that he made that mistake from carelessness rather than from malicious intent. It would be good of him if he openly explained in a publication what exactly his ideas are about the cases in question. Then at least people of good will would no longer have grounds to suspect him of heresy. 19

Already in February 1615 Gerard Vossius received a letter from Steinfurt with the decision to offer him the professorship in Theology. Vossius was waiting to take a decision. 20 Several letters were exchanged. A nearly complete correspondence about the affair of this Steinfurt professorate is preserved, including letters written to and by Gerard Vossius, Hugo Grotius, Conrad Vorstius, the Count of Bentheim, and the influential Steinfurt professor of Philosophy, Clemens Timplerus. 21 On 31 March 1615 Conrad Vorstius again made an attempt to persuade Gerard Vossius to come to Steinfurt. It is a letter of honest appreciation for the addressee.

18 Conrad Vorstius, Tractatus theologicus de Deo, sive de natura et attributis Dei (Steinfurt 1608). 19 Vossius to Grotius, 11 VIII 1614 (see note 15): ‘Cuius tu rei testis mihi esse potes; quando aperte saepius apud te id factum Vorstii improbavi, quod is sic in libris de Deo aliquando disputet, ut videri possit monstrosas et in Ecclesia Dei inauditas opiniones voluisse hominum animis inserere. Sane si aliud ei propositum fuit, imprudentissime egit sequendo de tanti momenti rebus tale disputandi genus. Et tamen ut imprudentia potius quam malitia peccarit, magnopere opto. Recte omnino facturus est, si tandem sic sententiam suam de istis capitibus publice perscribat, ut nullus sinistrae de eo suspicioni posthac, saltem apud bonos, relinquatur locus.’ 20 Clemens Timplerus to Vossius, 25 II 1615 ( Epp. Col. 2, 13; IVC 15.02.25) and to Conrad Vorstius, same day ( Epp. Col. 2, 13b). Vossius to Timplerus, 5 III 1615 (Epp. Col. 1, 19) and to Grotius, same day ( BW 1, 390). On Timplerus: J.S. Freedman, ‘Karriere und Bedeutung von Clemens Timplerus (1563/4–1624)’, in 400 Jahre Arnoldinum, 69–77. 21 See IVC, pp. 28–34, Vossius’s letters to and from Grotius, Vorstius and Timplerus. Also two letters written on 14 II 1615 by Wilhelm Heinrich Graf von Bentheim to Conrad Vorstius and to Leiden University (British Library, Harleian letters 7016, f. 39r. and 40r.).

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

473

I am sending you letters to me from some Steinfurt friends in which you can read how much they are longing for your coming. Read these letters and then return them to me by the man who brings them. Please, do not shame the trust that makes me so open and honest with you. I truly would not do so if I did not already know you somewhat through what others have told me about you. [ . . .] Greetings, Illustrious Man, whom I have till now not had the honour of meeting in person, but whom, God willing, I look forward to meeting and becoming better acquainted with in future.22

Something like a scholarly friendship grew up between Conrad Vorstius and the Steinfurt Professor-Elect Gerard Vossius. In the meantime Hugo Grotius was working to find a more suitable sphere of activity for his armour-bearer Vossius. He could use the expected call from Steinfurt as a lever. In March 1615 Grotius could inform Vossius that he would be appointed rector of the Collegium theologicum or ‘States College’ in Leiden, an institution for the training of Protestant church ministers.23 At the beginning of April 1615 Vossius let Steinfurt know that he had decided de facto on Leiden. He recommended his pupil Winandus Rutgersius for the vacant chair. Hence the latter indeed became the successor of Ravensperger. 24 Monday, 27 February 1617 As rector of the Leiden States College, 25 Gerard Vossius on Monday, 27 February 1617, wrote a letter to Conrad Vorstius. It is an interesting 22 Vorstius to Vossius, 31 III 1615 ( Epp. Col. 2, 16). Quotation on p. 11: ‘Ut videas quanto tui desiderio illic flagrent, literas amici unius atque alterius ad me datas tibi legendas mitto. Eas lege, et per hunc hominem retromittas; nec mihi fraudi esse permittas, tam fidenter et aperte tecum haec talia communicasse. Nisi ex aliorum relatu quadantenus te nossem, non sic agerem. [ . . .] Vale, Vir Clarissime, hactenus quoad faciem ignote, deinceps melius, si placet, et in Domino et in facie noscende.’ 23 Grotius to Vossius, 25 III 1615 ( BW 1, 393): ‘Agnosco mirabilem Dei providentiam qui omnium quos ea cura tangit animos ita moderatus est, ut res spe omni pulchrius succederet. Placet omnibus, excepto nemine, Collegii Theologici regimen tibi mandari.’ Grotius to Vossius, 1 IV 1615 ( BW 1, 394); Vossius to Timplerus, 2 IV 1615 (ULA RK III E 4, 123); Vossius to Vorstius, same day (ULA RK III E 4, 124). 24 About the appointment of Rutgersius: Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 98–99. See also Vossius to Timplerus, 13 VII 1615 (ULA RK III E 5, p. 7), Timplerus to Vossius, 31 VII 1615 (Epp. Col. 2, 19), and Vossius to Timplerus, 6 VIII 1615 (ULA RK III E 5, p. 9). 25 For Vossius as rector of Leiden’s Collegium theologicum, also known as ‘Statencollege’ (States College), cf. Rademaker, Life and Work . . .Vossius, 100–125; Idem, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 93–101; G.C. Kuiper and C.S.M. Rademaker, ‘The Collegium

474

cor s.m. rademaker

letter, because it is full of respect and sympathy for the so maligned German scholar in Gouda. Clarissime et Eximie Vir, your letter gave me much pleasure through the affection for me that you expressed in it. And I am also very happy for giving me the honour of sending me a part of your Antipiscator as well. Because of my duties I have not been able to read all of the book, but what I have read—and that is the greatest part—I not only read with enjoyment but also with profit. In that book you have brought up so many valuable subjects. Therefore I hope that you will soon be rescued from those cantankerous people—whom it must be said you treat in a peaceable way—and that you now at long last can put the finishing touches to your annotations to the New Testament, which I hear are being admired by many. Do not hurry yourself with that book of Camerarius: as soon as I need it, I will let you know. And if I can be of service with something else from my library, please let me know. I will treat your request as a benefaction bestowed upon me. 26

Vossius adopts a very sympathetic attitude towards the much-slandered Conrad Vorstius, who is kept continually busy in Gouda producing polemical writings to combat his attackers. Then his letter continues: Molanus and Koenerding, excellent young men—I wish all my students over here were like them—are very dear to me, both because of their dedication and your recommendation. I am working on a history of Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, and I will let my scholarship students have disputations about it. The first series of theses are intended for Molanus, and they are ready now. However, before I send them to the printer, I want to confer with you whether it is advisable that Molanus keeps staying here, where so many students are so unlike him, and he Theologicum at Leiden in 1615. Correspondence between P. Bertius and G.J. Vossius, the Resigning Regent and his Successor’, in Lias 2 (1975), 125–176. 26 Vossius to Vorstius, 27 II 1617 ( Epp. Col. 1, 61). The quotation on p. 114: ‘Clarissime et eximie Vir, literae tuae multum me recrearunt, propter summum erga me affectum quem spirant. Nec potui non multum gaudere, quo eo dignatus sis honore, ut ad me quoque partem Antipiscatoris tui mittendam putaris. Necdum tamen totum per occupationes legere licuit, sed quae legi (legi autem plurima) non minori cum voluptate legi quam fructu. Adeo multa utiliter a te observata. Quae quamquam ita sint, spero tamen te ἐριστικοῖς istis, licet haut ἐριστικῶς a te tractentur, defungi propediem posse, extremumque tandem manum admovere velle notationibus in Novum Testamentum quas ab non uno praedicari tantopore audio. De Camerario non est quod festines. Simulac carere eo ultra non licebit, monebo ipse. Quod si quid aliud etiam in Bibliotheca mea usui esse tibi possit, tantum significa. Ego hoc sic interpretabor, quasi beneficium a te accipiam.’ Conrad Vorstius’s book mentioned: Amica collatio, cum Clarissimo Theologo D. Iohanne Piscatore super notis hujus ad illius Tractatum de Deo, et Exegesin Apologeticum (Gouda: Andreas Burier for Caspar Tournay, 1613).

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

475

has only a few friends. I only wish Molanus would be a bit more assertive. Greetings, Vir Maxime, and continue to be the friend of the man who values you and your gifts. Your most dedicated G.J. Vossius.27

The scholarship students at the Collegium theologicum were marked for later service in the leading functions of church and state, but just like the students outside the college, they were often rowdy, crude, and disobedient. Fortunately, there were also other scholarship holders who did their work well, conducted themselves according to the regulations, and were very devoted to the rector. Two of them were Vorstius’s German candidates Lucas Molanus and Johann Andreas Koenerding. Molanus, from Schüttorf, was Vorstius’s student in Steinfurt before he came to Leiden. The younger Koenerding studied Theology in Steinfurt under Vorstius’s successor Hermann Ravensperger. Perhaps Molanus reminded Vossius how, years before, he had himself been a scholarship boy facing difficulties at the college, adjusting to the ways of his often boorish fellow students.28 As Vossius informed Vorstius, in 1617 the scholarship students of the Collegium theologicum and their rector were busy writing and defending theses on the heretical teaching of the Pelagians and SemiPelagians about points of faith such as grace, original sin, free will, and the sovereignty of God, all then much disputed. Those theses were separately printed for each disputation and later collected as a book. 29 So we now know that Vorstius’s protégé Molanus did not defend the Vossius to Vorstius, 27 II 1617 ( Epp. Col. 1, 61), quotation on p. 114: ‘Molanum et Cunerdingium, adolescentes longe optimos (quorum utinam omnes similes essent) multum amo, partim merito suo, partim propter commendationem tuam. Pelagianam et Semi-Pelagianam historiam orsus sum; certisque eam disputationibus complectar. Primam destinavi Molano, quae jam absoluta, sed antequam praelo traderetur, consilium tecum capere volui, utrum diutius apud nos sibi vivere expediat, ubi multorum adeo displiceant mores, et perpaucos habeat sui amantes. Ego in Molano nihil nisi animi firmitudinem requiro. Vale, Vir maxime, et te donaque tua aestimantem porro amare perge. T.R. addictissimus G.J. Vossius.’ 28 On Molanus and Koenerding, see Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 108; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 98; 400 Jahre Arnoldinum , 93. On Molanus, see also: Kuiper and Rademaker, ‘Collegium Theologicum’, 161; on Koenerding (before 1590–1657), cf. NNBW 6, 890 and BWPGN 5, 110–111 [ BWPGN = J.P. de Bie et al. (eds), Biographisch Woordenboek van Protestantsche Godgeleerden in Nederland , 5 vols (Utrecht-The Hague 1903–1943)]. 29 G.J. Vossius, Theses theologicae et historicae de variis doctrinae Christianae capitibus, quas aliquot abhinc annis disputandas proposuit in Academia Leidensi (Bellositi Dobunorum [Oxford] 1628). Cf. Rademaker, Life and Work . . .Vossius, 364; Idem, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 275. The theses can also be found in Vossius’s Opera, Tomus 6 (Amsterdam 1701). 27

476

cor s.m. rademaker

first series of theses. The Disputatio de haeresi Pelagii, complectens collationem doctrinae Catholicae et Pelagianae de peccato originali was held by Molanus’s fellow student Jacobus Joannis de Ridder. Vorstius’s other student, Koenerding, probably did dispute about a related subject: the theses De peccato primo Adami were defended by a scholar with the first names ‘I. Andreas’, and that can hardly have been anybody other than Joannes Andreas Cunerdingius. 30 It is interesting to observe how these two students of Vossius fared in later life. Lucas Molanus stayed over a year in the college, but in May 1618 Vossius recommended Molanus, who wished to succeed the deceased Protestant minister of the Dutch village Woubrugge. He gained the living, but because his appointment had been approved by the Remonstrants, he was dismissed as an unorthodox minister in 1619.31 Johann Andreas Koenerding was rejected as a Remonstrant student in 1619 when the Counter-Remonstrants carried out a purge of the Collegium theologicum. He became a minister to the Remonstrant Brethren and was active in Gronau in Germany and in Zwammerdam in Holland, where he died in 1657. In 1622 he unsuccessfully tried to persuade Conrad Vorstius to join him in Gronau. A letter survives written by Koenerding in 1628 to the Remonstrant professor Simon Episcopius, about manuscripts of Vorstius and about the state of affairs in Steinfurt.32 Friday, 25 August 1617 On 25 August 1617, rector Vossius in the Collegium theologicum of Leiden puts the last full stop behind the introduction he has written for a book by his friend Hugo Grotius, De satisfactione Christi adversus Faustum Socinum .33 In this book Grotius and Vossius described Socinus’s doctrine about satisfaction through Christ. Not only Conrad 30 For De Ridder see Kuiper and Rademaker, ‘The Collegium Theologicum’, 163. For Koenerding see note 28. 31 Vossius to Johan van Matenesse, 1 V 1618 (ULA RK III E 5, p. 85). 32 Cf. the titles mentioned in note 28. 33 For this paragraph see Rademaker, Life and Work . . .Vossius, 119–125; Idem, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 105–111; Hugo Grotius, Defensio fidei catholicae de satisfactione Christi adversus Faustum Socinum Senensem (Leiden 1617); a new edition, with an introduction and notes by E. Rabbie, and an English translation by H. Mulder, appeared as vol. 1 in the series Hugonis Grotii opera theologica (Assen-Maastricht 1990).

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

477

Vorstius but also the Remonstrants as a group were accused of the heresy of Socinianism, and through describing the Socinian doctrine Grotius and Vossius sought to prove that the Remonstrants were not Socinians at all. Vossius’s preface is addressed to the ‘Studiosis Evangelicae Veritatis’, those devoted to evangelical truth. A small collage of extracts from Vossius’s preface gives an impression of its tenor. 34 While Socinus has seen fit to depart from the Catholic doctrine on several points, he has done so with the greatest danger on those which concern the glory of Christ. [ . . .] While we say that Christ has achieved for us two things, impunity and reward, the ancient church has separately attributed the former to the satisfaction, the latter to the merit of Christ. The satisfaction consists in the transfer of sins, the merit in the most perfect imputation of the obedience demonstrated on our behalf. Both of these were contested with great fervour by Socinus. [ . . .] The most illustrious Hugo Grotius felt that out of love for the Church of God he could not acquiesce, but, leaving the question of merit to others, took it upon himself to deal with that of satisfaction. [ . . .] Farewell, all you who favour the Catholic doctrine, and join us in commending again and again in your prayers to God this noble man for the sake of state and church.35

Conrad Vorstius’s not-so-orthodox opinions concerning satisfaction by Christ must surely have been one of the reasons for Grotius to deal with that issue in a thorough study. In the eyes of the Counter-Remonstrants the evil heresies harboured by their Remonstrant adversaries stood revealed in Grotius’s work: Arminianism and ‘Vorstianism’,

34 Text and translation of Vossius’s Prefatio veritatis evangelicae studiosis , dated 25 August 1617, in the new edition of De satisfactione, 84–89; the commentary on the preface 334–335. In Appendix 2, 459–502, many fragments from Grotius’s correspondence with Vossius, and Appendix 3, 503–506, Vossius’s manuscript additions in his copy of De satisfactione. 35 De satisfactione (1990), Latin quotation from section 1, 84–85: ‘Cum in plurimis doctrinam catholicam Socinus sibi deserendum putarit, tum maiori cum periculo nusquam ab ea recessit quam in illis quae ad gloriam Christi pertinent.’ Section 4, 86–87; ‘Cum vero duo nobis peperissse Christum dixerimus, impunitatem et praemium, illud satisfactioni, hoc merito Christi distincte tribuit vetus ecclesia. Satisfactio consistit in peccatorum tralatione, meritum in perfectissima obedientiae pro nobis praestitae imputatione. Utrumque horum vehementi cum studio impugnavit Socinus.’ Section 5, 86–87: ‘Vir clarissimus Hugo Grotius [...] pro sua erga ecclesiam Dei amore non acquiescendum putavit, quin relicta aliis meriti quaestione ipse eam de satisfactione est tractandam susciperet.’ Section 10, 88–89: ‘Vale quisquis catholicae doctrinae faves, et nobiscum virum amplissimum reipublicae et ecclesiae causa Deo precibus tuis etiam et etiam commenda.’

478

cor s.m. rademaker

which would end in the gravely feared antichristian Socinianism. 36 The intention of Grotius and Vossius had been quite the contrary: to produce solid works in the history of dogma that would show how different the beliefs defended by the Remonstrants were. 37 Vorstius himself, however, was not involved in the making of those books. He was still in Gouda, engaged in his personal polemics with his fiercest CounterRemonstrant adversaries, polemics, in which neither Grotius nor Vossius saw much benefit. He could not bring himself to follow Vossius’s sound advice to leave polemics alone and devote himself once more to biblical exegesis, in which he was so exceptionally talented. As Grotius wrote in a letter: ‘Vorstium nemo defendit nisi Vorstius.’ 38 Besides his work on De satisfactione, Grotius was busy in the hectic period 1614–1618 on yet another ‘peace publication’ as he himself considered it. It was to be a sequel to his Ordinum pietas. The book was, to all intents and purposes, finished, but it was published only after his death, under the title De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra commentarius.39 Vossius worked closely with his friend Grotius. Letters, books and outlines for all sorts of studies passed back and forth with the regularity of clockwork. Vossius studied and assembled material; Grotius fought in the front lines and made grateful use of the results of Vossius’s study. Recent editions of Grotius’s De satisfactione (1990), Ordinum pietas (1995) and De imperio summarum potestatum (2001), together with the now completely published correspondence of Grotius (finished 2001) and Nellen’s fine new biography of Grotius

36 Hermann Ravensperger, Vorstius’s first successor in Steinfurt, and now professor of Theology at the University of Groningen, published an answer to Grotius’s study: De libro Hugonis Grotii cuius titulus est Defensio catholicae de satisfactione Christi Hermanni Ravenspergeri Iudicium (Groningen 1617). Then Vossius came with a Responsio ad Iudicium Hermanni Ravenspergeri (Leiden 1618). See Rademaker, Life and Work . . .Vossius, 121–123; Idem, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 109. 37 F. Mühlegger, ‘Pluralization and Authority in Grotius’ Early Works’, and H.W. Blom, ‘Grotius and Socinianism’, in Socinianism and Arminianism (2005), 99–120 and 121–147, respectively. 38 Grotius to Isaac Casaubon, 23 X 1611 ( BW 1, 294). 39 Hugo Grotius, De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra (1647). See the new critical edition with introduction, English translation and commentary by H.-J. van Dam (Leiden etc. 2001). On 10 February 1616 Vossius sent Grotius a long letter with important material for his study, in 1669 published as Dissertatio epistolica de iure magistratus in rebus ecclesiasticis (Amsterdam 1669). The text also in BW 1, 447, pp. 462–497, and in the new edition of De Imperio, App. II, no. 11, pp. 896–937.

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

479

(2007), give us a nearly perfect sketch of the cooperation between Grotius and Vossius in this field of learning.40 In his Ordinum pietas Grotius had written already in 1613: ‘It has always been indisputable that two extremes had to be avoided: first, that we do not ascribe the causes of sin to God, or damnation to fatal necessity; second, that we do not trace back the origin of salutary good to the powers of our depraved nature.’ Going from the first to the second heresy, Grotius wrote: ‘Et quidem haec Scylla est sane metuenda; neque vero minus periculosa est ex adverso latere Charybdis, Pelagianismus scilicet aut Semipelagianismus.’ 41 Now the Remonstrants as a group were not only accused of Socinianism, but also of the Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian heresies. This was another very dangerous accusation, because it was so closely connected with the grave theological conflicts between Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants, the theology of free will, grace, original sin, predestination and the sovereignty of God. To prove that Remonstrants were neither Pelagians nor Semi-Pelagians, Vossius studied the heresy of Pelagius with his students. In 1618 he himself published a nearly comprehensive standard book about this difficult chapter in the history of dogma, his Historiae de controversiis, quas Pelagius eiusque reliquiae moverunt, libri septem . It was clear to everybody that rector Vossius, who had always striven to maintain peace and unity in the church, with this mighty work was explicitly stepping forth as a defender of the Remonstrant cause. With his Historia Pelagianismi he became famous at home and abroad as a distinguished scholar of the history of Theology. However, the book also caused many difficulties for him in his home country, because by defending the Remonstrants he came to be considered their follower. 42 Grotius and Vossius were convinced that, with their learned publications, they really had made a contribution to the restoration of peace in church and state. For that they returned to the ‘Catholica’,

40 See the titles of the new editions and the Grotius correspondence in note 4. Interesting material on the cooperation between Vossius and Grotius can be found in the commentaries and the ‘Appendices’ of the said new editions. See also Nellen, Hugo de Groot, passim. 41 Grotius, Ordinum pietas (1995), 132–133, sections 36–37; the quotation: ‘Now this Scylla should certainly be dreaded, but no less dangerous is the Charybdis on the other side, viz. Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism.’ 42 For Vossius’s Historia Pelagiana (Leiden 1618) see Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 123–125; 357; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 109–110; 274.

480

cor s.m. rademaker

the Christian Church of the first centuries. Therefore they also strongly emphasized the meaning of tradition, particularly the teachings of the great ecclesiastical authors of Antiquity. In addition, they took the view that one should stay engaged only upon really essential points of doctrine. Everyone was to be allowed the freedom to have his own ideas about the non-essential matters of faith. The two men busied themself with the problems of their time from behind their desk. They had great expectations for the impact of their books, but in 1618 the time of discussion had passed and the underdog Remonstrant party was on the point of being silenced by other methods. Sunday, 15 December 1619 On this dark December day of the annus calamitosus 1619 Vossius offered his German friend and colleague Geverhard Elmenhorst a clear summary of what had happened. I know that you want to know how I am faring. Conversely, there is almost nothing about which I prefer to write less. I cannot easily speak about my opponents without being forced to rebuke them, whereas I would rather spare them, even though they have spared neither my fortune nor my good name. You will ask how I have mistreated those preachers. I do not quite know. But I understand that they cannot tolerate that I do not rank the Dutch Church higher than the church of the first centuries, and that I do not believe the church here to be the only Catholic church, but rather consider it a part of the great whole, to which the churches of the Augsburg Confession belong. They are angry with me because I cannot force myself to condemn what all of Antiquity has approved, and to approve what Antiquity has condemned [ . . .]. I tried to maintain contact with people of both persuasions and have constantly demonstrated my distaste for all partisanship. Indeed, they cannot deny that, but they say that it is precisely in this that I am seriously remiss [ . . .]. I should have closed ranks with the protectors and benefactors of the only true teaching, viz. those who adhere to the most literal interpretation of Calvin’s doctrine of predestination. 43

43 For Geverhart Elmenhorst (ca. 1580–1621) see ADB 6, 59 [ ADB = Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Leipzig 1875–1912]; Rademaker, Life and Work . . .Vossius, 138; Idem, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 113 (Dutch translation of this letter) and 116. The quotation: Vossius to Elmenhorst, 15 XII 1619 (ULA RK III E 5, p. 119): ‘De rebus meis scio aves scire. Contra ego de nullis pene aeque scribo invitus. Neque enim facile de iis loqui possum, quin eos cogar reprehendere, quibus parcere malim, etsi nec honori, nec fortunis meis pepercerunt. Quaeres, quo in offensam incurrerim ecclesiasticarum. Equidem non satis scio. Sed intelligo, concoquere non posse, quod ita

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

481

That was precisely the crux of what had happened. The plea of Vossius, Vorstius, Grotius, and many others in favour of more freedom of faith in the Reformed Church was overcome by the entreaties of their fundamentalist adversaries. In 1618–1619 the Synod of Dordrecht had declared itself explicitly in favour of what the Counter-Remonstrants considered the only true teaching. It was for this reason that the year 1619 was a disastrous one for these three scholars, with dire consequences for their future lives and work. The Synod was a decisive defeat for the Remonstrants. The CounterRemonstrants set about purging church and university root and branch of those they considered unorthodox and therefore dangerous. Vossius was dismissed as rector of the Collegium theologicum on 20 July 1619, and with him his friend and close colleague Caspar Barlaeus, the second in command. Many of their students also had to leave the college, among them Conrad Vorstius’s young friend Johannes Andreas Koenerding. Of them all, Vossius was the most fortunate victim of the purge. The trustees of the university could not give him a chair at that moment, but he remained a salaried member of the academic community, whereas Barlaeus and the students were sent away without any means of support. 44 Out of office and uncertain as to the future, that was the sad situation in which Gerardus Vossius found himself after a brilliant career and despite his working for unity and peace in church and state. But already in 1622 he became a professor in Leiden and in 1632 in Amsterdam. After 1619 he would publish many very important books, and in Amsterdam, away from narrow-minded Leiden, he resumed writing on church history. He died in Amsterdam on 17 March 1649. 45 The poet Joost van den Vondel, a friend of Vossius’s in this city, wrote an elegy upon his death. Now, after a long and rich life, a great man ecclesias Belgicas aestimem, ut veterem illam non minori profecto loco putem: neque eam, in qua vivo, solam constituere Ecclesiam Catholicam credam, sed eiusdem partem esse nobilem censeam, illam quae Augustanam sequitur confessionem. Displicet quoque iis, quod impetrare a me ipso non possum, ut damnem quae tota antiquitas comprobavit, comprobem quae illa damnavit. De caetero, ita me cum utriusque partis hominibus soleam versari: ut semper gessi ut omnimodis satis ostenderim, ab omni partium studio esse me alienissimum. Neque hoc negare possunt: sed hoc illud esse aiunt, quo nomine graviter deliquerim, et quod dici solet, perdicis instar, malum mihi excreverim. Arcte enim solis τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας patronis ac fautoribus, hoc est iis, qui Calvini de Praedestinatione sententiam adamussim sequuntur, haerere me debuisse.’ 44 Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 125–142; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 112–124. 45 See Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, passim.

482

cor s.m. rademaker

had died, who in spite of all the grief in his work and personal life (in Amsterdam Vossius lost all but one of his eight very talented children) left as his legacy a wealth of books and numerous perfectly formed scholars. The death of this exceptional scholar was a real loss for his students in Amsterdam and in general for the study of arts, history and languages. De bloem des Aemstels mist de stralen des afgeslaefden mans. Met hem verzinckt een glans Van Kunst, Historien, en Talen. 46

Poor Conrad Vorstius fared much worse. In May 1619 he lost his professorship and had to leave the country. He left Gouda and it seems that secretly he was, for some time, in Amsterdam with Vondel and in the vicinity of Utrecht. At the beginning of 1622 he fled to Tönningen in Germany, where he died soon afterwards, a disappointed man. He was buried in Friedrichstadt at the site where afterwards the Remonstrant church was built. 47 Vondel wrote a scornful poem ‘Upon the Death of Conradus Vorstius’. Vorstius was forced to live in exile because he had dethroned Calvin, who depicted God as predestinating souls to eternal doom. Vorstius sincerely searched for truth and now had given his soul to God and his body to the City of Peace. Nu rust hy, die versmaed in ballingschap moest leven; En bonsde van ’t Altaer, den Af-god van Geneven. [ . . .] Hy volgt des waerheids spoor, op ’t redelijcke pad: Geeft God syn ziel: syn lijf de Vrederijcke stad.48

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Pensionary of Holland, was sentenced to death in May 1619 and died on the scaffold in The Hague. His partisan Hugo Grotius was sentenced to life imprisonment in the castle of Loevestein. Together with some friends Vossius regularly sent supplies of books to the unhappy scholar, and it gave him tremendous pleasure when Grotius managed to escape in one of the used book 46 Vondel, Op het overlyden van den Heere Geeraert Vossius, Kanonick der Aertsbisschoppelijcke Kercke te Kantelbergh, en der Historien Professor t’Amsterdam, in De werken van Vondel , Wereldbibliotheek (Amsterdam 1927–1937), 5, 456–457. The whole text in Rademaker, Leven en werk . . .Vossius, 244. 47 C. van der Woude, ‘Conrad Vorstius’, in BLGNP 1, 407–410; Rohls, ‘Calvinism, Arminianism and Socinianism’, 44. 48 Vondel, Lyck-Dicht op ’t overlijden van D. Coenradus Vorstius, Gewezen Professor der H. Godheydt, tot Leyden , in Idem, De werken (Wereldbibliotheek), 2, 426–427.

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

483

chests. After some time Vossius, still under suspicion, very cautiously resumed contact with Grotius, who had by then settled definitively in Paris, where in 1635 he became the Swedish ambassador in France, always continuing to study and publish with passion. 49 When he died Vondel wrote a poem full of respect on the great scholar: there should be a statue for the greatest son of Delft, next to the statue of Erasmus of Rotterdam. Men stell’, gelijck den Rotterdammer, Een beelt den wyzen Delvenaer: Men paer’ die groote nageburen, Wier faem alle eeuwen zal verduren: Zoo sta de Wijsheit op ’t altaer. 50

For Hugo Grotius a statue next to that of Erasmus, for Vorstius a tomb in the Remonstrant church in Friedrichstadt, Amsterdam in mourning for the loss of Vossius. Three eminent scholars, who as confirmed Erasmians fought against the religious restraints that Christian fundamentalists sought to impose. Grotius, Vorstius and Vossius deserve a place of honour in the wide stream of disciples of Erasmus, humanist scholars who, inspired by the work of the great man of Rotterdam, refused to meddle in theological disputes and always emphasized evangelical thinking and life without condemnating deviating interpretations of faith. Tuesday, 15 September 1620 On Monday, 14 September 1620, Gerard Vossius wrote the preface to the reader of a new book, his Castigationes et notae on the Collectanea veterum tragicorum, published the same year in an edition by his good friend Petrus Scriverius. 51 Until recently, all the surviving copies of

Grotius, BW, passim. Vondel, Uitvaert van zijn Excellentie. Aen de Wethouders van Delft, in Idem, De werken (Wereldbibliotheek), 4, 621–622. 51 The full title of the book is In fragmenta L. Livii Andronici, Q. Ennii, C. Naevii, M. Pacuvii, et L. Attii, castigationes et notae (Leiden 1620), after Petri Scriverii Collectanea veterum tragicorum (Leiden 1620). The work and the preface can also be found in Vossius’s Opera, tomus 4. Cf. Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 169–172; 357–358; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 155–157; 274. In his prison Hugo Grotius was following the project and was sending notes and remarks. Cf. C.S.M. Rademaker, ‘Books and Grotius at Loevestein’, in Quaerendo 2 (1972), 2–29. 49 50

484

cor s.m. rademaker

the first edition of Vossius’s book that had been studied contained a preface dated 14 September 1620. Yet in October 2006, our colleague Koert van de Horst in Utrecht discovered a copy with, instead of that preface, a printed letter to Rochus van den Honert, a friend and protector of Gerardus Vossius. This previously unknown letter was dated Tuesday 15 September 1620. To a large extent, the text of the preface and the letter are the same and both are in the same typeface. However, at the beginning and the end, and also for some sections in the middle, the text of the preface is different. The letter of 15 September is in fact a dedication of the book to Rochus van den Honert, Councillor of the Court of Holland, Zeeland and West-Friesland, and Curator of Leiden University. 52 For in the middle of the text we read: I hope that this book will bring me respect, and perhaps it will not procure dishonour for me if, should its results meet expectations, I offer and dedicate it to the Curators of this University as a little monument of my commitment and gratitude. 53

Yet Vossius does not do that. A little further on we read: Meanwhile, as it happened while I was hurrying along, I became rather hesitant and changed my plan somewhat. It seemed to match my efforts sufficiently, if I dedicated the booklet not to the whole College of Curators, but to one member of that company of honourable men. 54

That one member is Rochus van den Honert, and Vossius gives as reason for that choice, that this curator was also a competent poet who had made a name for himself with his tragedy Thamara.55 Nevertheless, the letter ends: 52 The preface: ‘Gerardus Joannes Vossius ad benevolum lectorem. Quod in statuis, ac picturis, usu venire solet . . .’ The letter: ‘Amplissimo Clarissimoque Viro Rocho Honertio [ . . . ? ] Curiae in Hollandia, Zelandia, et West-Frisia, Senatori primario, Academiae Curatori, Gerardus Joan. Vossius S. D. Quod in statuis, ac picturis, usu venire solet [ . . . ].’ 53 The preface: ‘[Opus] quod non indignum me, et publico haut inutile foret.’ The letter: ‘[Opus], quod dignum me foret, neque indignum forsan, ut, si votis successus responderet, illud Academiae huius Curatoribus, velut affectus, et grati animi monumentum, sacrarem ac suspenderem.’ 54 The preface: ‘Interim, erudite lector, operam hanc meam benevolo animo accipe.’ The letter: ‘Interim, quia in ista properatione diffiderem mihi non mediocriter: de ea, quam ante dixi, dictatione consilium ex parte mutavi. Nimirum satis ampliter meis de laboribus sentire mihi visus sum, si non integro Curatorum Collegio, sed, e tantae dignitatis viris, vel uni hunc libellum consecraret.’ 55 On Rochus van den Honert (Honaert), cf. NNBW 8, 817. See also note 57.

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

485

With this present look at the intention of the donor, who most of all wishes that you can really appreciate it, and may it, by your doing so, also be appreciated by the noble exalted gentlemen Johan van Duivenvoorde and Adriaen Pauw, your colleagues in governing the University. The approval of you three encourages me to continue working as I am doing now.56

What was the background history of this recently discovered dedication? After the Synod of Dordrecht Vossius was dismissed as rector of the Collegium theologicum. Without a specific function, he kept his academic salary, but the Reformed Church required him to appear year after year, until 1627, before the South Holland Synod to demonstrate his orthodoxy. These occasions became long and difficult discussions, with threats of exclusion from partaking of the Lord’s Supper in the Reformed congregation of Leiden to which he belonged. Fortunately there was still a good friend from Dordrecht, the influential Rochus van den Honert, who had now been appointed as a moderate Counter-Remonstrant curator at Leiden University. He took Vossius under his wing against the excesses of the Synod, and he ensured that the dismissed rector could remain a salaried member of the university community. Alas, for the time being Vossius could not publish studies in church history. 57 Hence Vossius concentrated on linguistics and literary history. The first book he published after the catastrophe of 1619 was the one with Castigationes et notae . In the few last sentences of its recently found dedication lies the true reason for that curious text, which was undoubtedly printed in one or two copies only. Gerard Vossius would have loved to dedicate his new book to Van den Honert openly, but that gentleman probably thought it advisable to stay somewhat in the shadow as far as Vossius was concerned. Vossius’s book about rhetoric and old rhetors, his De rhetorices natura ac constitutione, et antiquis rhetoribus, sophistis, ac oratoribus liber, published in August 1621, had again at the beginning a normal dedication, addressed this time to

56 The preface: ‘Equidem favore tuo nixus, quod nunc sedulo operam do, idem faciam porro . . .’ The letter: ‘Equidem interea in hocce munusculo animum respicere donantis, cui illud praecipue est in votis ut placere tibi possit quam maxime, et per te Nobilissimis et Amplissimis viris Joanni Duvenvordio, et Hadriano Pauwio, in curanda Academia collegis tuis. Tergemino hoc favore afflatus, quod nunc sedulo operam do, idem faciam porro.’ 57 Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 129–130; 143–144; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 116–117.

486

cor s.m. rademaker

the Curators ‘Joannes Duvenvordius, Rochus Honerdus, et Hadrianus Pauwius’ and the five members of the Leiden city government of that time.58 Tuesday, 23 October 1640 On 23 October 1640 Gerardus Vossius wrote a letter to his friend and relative Franciscus Gomarus. Old and tired of his days he looked back on the turbulent years of the Remonstrant controversies. 59 It is already thirty years ago that you came from Leiden to Dordrecht for the division of the Junius legacy. I remember that you had at that time, in my presence, a conversation with my spiritual councillor Joannes Becius. That conversation was about God who allows sin. We too together had a profound conversation about how God predestines men to salvation and condemnation. In those days I was rather uncertain about this difficult doctrine. However, I held on to what my teachers, especially my fatherin-law Junius and you, had taught me. I was confirmed in those views by clear and authoritative statements of Augustine, Prosper of Aquitaine and others. Nevertheless, I found that especially some passages in the Scriptures form a sound foundation for the doctrine that the predestination precedes faith and perseverance, but is not its preceding condition. Although that was my honest conviction at that time, I did not see clearly how I should defend myself against the then more commonly accepted alternative interpretation of the doctrine of predestination. Thanks be to God, you came to Dordrecht in those days, as I said already, and you stayed there a few days. Then I began to understand what exactly you endorsed, something others had referred to, rather than explained, and I accepted that and never let go since. 60 58 De rhetorices natura ac constitutione, et antiquis rhetoribus, sophistis, ac oratoribus liber (Leiden: [Joannes Maire], 1621). For the title-page with the names of the dedicatees see R. Breugelmans, Fac et spera. Joannes Maire, Publisher, Printer and Bookseller in Leiden 1603–1657. A Bibliography of his Publications (Leiden 2003), 188. 59 On Gomarus, see note 9. Gomarus married Maria l’Hermite, the sister of Johanna l’Hermite, the third wife of Vossius’s father-in-law Franciscus Junius Sr (1532–1602). Cf. Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 445; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 297. 60 Vossius to Gomarus, 23 X 1640 ( Epp. Col. 1, 396; Dutch translation of this fragment, Rademaker, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 80): ‘Jam anni sunt triginta, quod Leida excurrebas Dordrechtum ad rem herciscundam inter haeredes Junianos. Eo tempore memini tibi, praesente me, sermonem fuisse cum Reverendissimo Domino compatre meo Joanni Becio de permissionis natura. Tu mecum et satis diligenter de praedestinationis objecto. Fluctuabat eo tempore nonnihil animus meus in hoc difficili argumento. Persistebam in ea sententia quam a praeceptoribus meis praecipue socero Junio teque acceperam. In qua etiam multum formabat non indiligens Beati Augustini et Prosperi aliorumque authoritas. Sed imprimis aliquid Sacrae Scripturae loca impen-

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

487

Vossius did not consider difference of views a reason to leave the Dutch Reformed Church, for which his beloved father had worked so hard and suffered so much as a minister. He felt hurt that after his dismissal as rector he was even threatened with exclusion from the Lord’s Supper in his Leiden congregation. He defended the Remonstrants, but he himself, at the very core of his belief, remained loyal to the traditional teaching of his church, which treated him so badly. 61 Many authors who have studied the controversies of the years of the Truce still fail to understand Vossius’s attitude. Already in 1942 Cornelia Roldanus wrote in her excellent article about Vossius and Grotius before the Synod of Dordt: ‘Vossius was not really a Remonstrant.’ 62 Since 1967, when I defended my doctoral thesis on Vossius, I have always tried to make clear that in fact Vossius had never in any sense been a Remonstrant, however much he defended devotees of this creed. Yet time and again, even today, he is referred to as a Remonstrant. 63 In his contribution to the volume Socinianism and Arminianism (2005) Jan Rohls repeats: ‘Gerhard Vossius, the Remonstrant head of the States College at the University of Leiden.’ 64 Fortunately there are also authors who clearly acknowledge that sometimes Vossius’s views do come close to those of the Remonstrants, but that he never became a member of the Remonstrant Brotherhood. In his 1996 article about Hugo Grotius and Johannes Wtenbogaert, which is still worth reading, Nellen gives a clear summary of Grotius’s views of the church. When Grotius, around 1608–1609, began to steep

sius mihi favere visa sunt sententiae illi qua predestinatio creditur fide et perseverantia prior, non praevia ejus conditio. Sic cum affectus forem, non satis tamen videbam quomodo eluctarer a quibusdam si vulgatiorem de praedestinationis objecto sententiam sequerer. Commode sic Deo volente evenit, ut quemadmodum dixi, Dordrechtum venire ac plusculos illic haereres dies. Ibi demum mentem tuam, quam aliqui referre potius tentarant quam exposuerant, assequi coepi, nec postea deserui.’ 61 See Rademaker, Life and Work . . . Vossius, 134–149 ; Idem, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 119–124. A reliable summary of Vossius’s convictions in S.B.J. Zilverberg, ‘Gerardus Joannes Vossius’, in BLGNP 1, 414–416. 62 C. Roldanus, ‘Vossius’ verhouding tot Hugo de Groot vóór de Synode van Dordt’, in Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 57 (1942), 241–253, quotation p. 242: ‘Vossius wàs geen eigenlijke Remonstrant.’ 63 See my doctoral thesis: Gerardus Joannes Vossius 1577–1649 , Zwolse Reeks van Taal- en Letterkundige Studies 21 (Zwolle 1967). For my later studies on Vossius, see Rademaker, Leven en werk . . . Vossius, 360–361. 64 Rohls, ‘Calvinism, Arminianism and Socinianism’, 31. Nellen, Hugo de Groot , 129 calls Vossius ‘een rekkelijke theoloog’ (a liberal theologian) and ‘lid van de remonstrantse factie’ (member of the Remonstrant party).

488

cor s.m. rademaker

himself in the theological controversies, he acquired perceptions that he never abandoned afterwards: ‘Always he aimed for a religious consensus like the one that, according to his views, had existed in the first four centuries of the church, that is to say the church before Augustine.’ He did not emphasize dogmatic accuracy, because that had been something unknown in ancient Christianity. Grotius wanted there to be a large leeway in faith as long as practical piety came first. More and more, his ideal was the reunification of all Christian churches. Grotius was of the opinion that the Reformation had enforced too much. Originally of Reformed stock, he remained, in his own life, faithful to Reformed Christianity, but he was very broad-minded and held flexible views.65 Van der Woude, a great expert on the theological conflicts at the beginning of the seventeenth century, in a lexicon article in 1978 ably summarized Conrad Vorstius’s position during that period. Vorstius’s sympathy with the ideas of Faustus Socinus no doubt estranged him from the Calvinist creed of the Reformed, in particular in his theology about God and about reconciliation by Christ. In certain aspects Vorstius came close to the views of the Remonstrants. He too seriously objected to the Calvinist doctrines of grace, free will, predestination, and reconciliation. Nevertheless, the Remonstrants preferred not to be identified with him, because of Vorstius’s Socinian connections and sympathies. Certainly, they stood up for the unhappy scholar, but they also distanced themselves from his opinions. It remains a mystery why Vorstius could not understand how much his theological system as a whole deviated from the teaching of the Reformed Churches and kept defending his theology as orthodox. 66 The Dutch Reformed Church navigated a stormy sea during the controversies of the years of the Truce. Vossius, Vorstius and Grotius tried to point out a safe middle passage to those setting the church’s course, but their signals were not received or were taken amiss. In its 65 H.J.M. Nellen, ‘Een tweespan voor de Arminiaanse Wagen: Grotius en Wtenbogaert’, in H.J.M. Nellen and J. Trapman (eds), De Hollandse jaren van Hugo de Groot (1583–1621) (Hilversum 1996), 161–177, quotation 175: ‘Steeds stuurde hij aan op een religieuze consensus zoals die naar zijn mening in de eerste vier eeuwen van de Kerk, dat wil zeggen in de Kerk vóór Augustinus had bestaan.’ See also Nellen, Hugo de Groot, 569: ‘Het was de kerk van vóór Augustinus die hij koesterde’ (It was the church from before Augustine which he loved). For Vossius the church of the first centuries enclosed also the church of Augustine’s time. 66 C. van der Woude, ‘Conradus Vorstius’, in BLGNP 1, 407–410, esp. 409–410.

at the heart of the twelve years

’ truce controversies

489

haste to avoid the Scylla of unchristian currents like Socinianism and Pelagianism, the ship of the Reformed Church hurtled straight on to the Charybdis of the fundamentalist enforcement of a single and rigid interpretation of faith. Also in setting their ecclesiastical policy, the Reformed helmsmen disregarded the directions of their learned advisers. They distanced themselves from a church under the supervision of the state, in their opinion a disastrous Scylla, only to be driven against the Charybdis of an increasingly unworkable relationship between church and state. The ship of the Reformed Church stayed in service, but with the damaged rigging of many missed opportunities. The sad fact is that convinced and well-meaning Christians like Gerardus Vossius, Conrad Vorstius and Hugo Grotius were cast overboard. Their careers were broken and their cherished ideals were misunderstood. Vossius and Grotius painfully had to rebuild a worthwhile future, a future that Vorstius did not even live to see.

A FLAMING ROW IN THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS: CLAUDE SAUMAISE ON HUGO GROTIUS’S CRUSADE FOR CHURCH UNITY Henk Nellen (The Hague) In this paper I intend to follow a simple scheme. I would like to explain how the Dutch humanist Hugo Grotius aroused the animosity of a colleague, the Frenchman Claude Saumaise, by pleading for church unity. First, I will give a survey of the reasons why Grotius’s unionism cannot be seen as an unfeasible illusion, but was considered a commendable aim, even by contemporary observers. Next, I will dwell upon the lives of both protagonists by explaining how correspondences played a major part in the vicissitudes of their friendship. Finally, I hope to draw some conclusions regarding the role of the scholarly letter in this particular section of the world of learning. Church unity, a feasible ideal? Scholars who propagated church unity were often reproached for pursuing an illusion. In the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, history confirmed this negative judgement. With the increasing success of the Reformation, the demarcation lines between the confessions became more and more pronounced, a process that has been described as confessionalisation. Consequently, attempts at restoring unity encountered growing resistance, due to the dogmatic inflexibility and conservatism shown by the representatives of the established churches. All attempts to repair the rift between Catholics and Protestants seemed to be doomed to failure after the Council of Trent (1545–1563) had laid down Roman Catholic doctrine for the centuries to come. The Lutheran Churches in Germany refused to take part in a reconciliatory program, to the extent that they flatly rejected all overtures undertaken by irenicists from the Reformed side. Here the ecclesiastical authorities also showed reservations towards unification, although they were more inclined to seek agreement because of the

492

henk nellen

unsettled position of their confession in the Empire. 1 In spite of the general resistance to reunion, however, every now and then scholars stepped forward to promote Christian unity as a commendable ideal. Several reasons can be given for such high-minded stubbornness. The most important reason was that charity, and therefore unanimity, were central dogmas of the Christian belief. In the New Testament, Christ’s disciples and followers are explicitly reminded to maintain unity, but in the course of history they became desperately divided. The fact that disunion and internal strife ran counter to the message of the Bible was something all conciliators emphasized, 2 as was the conviction that unity might go hand in hand with diversity. From the earliest times, heresy and schism had troubled the church. Even the Apostles had not always worked in perfect harmony, witness Peter and Paul disagreeing on the best way to convert pagans to the Christian faith.3 Besides theological considerations, there were political motives to promote unity. It was generally agreed that religious unity was in the interest of the state. Pluralism, that is the coexistence of two or more denominations in one state, did not have a large following. Generally, the conviction prevailed that tolerance of heresy was in itself a kind of heresy. Therefore, pluralism was seen as a necessary evil. Against the backdrop of confessional diversity, the ideal of church unity remained alive. In France, the ‘politiques’ advocated a strong monarchy, one which would implement reforms in a Gallican Church that was not dependent on Rome, to the extent that even the Huguenots would be willing to join. This programme never materialized and the French kings had to be satisfied with the role of arbiter between two competing religions. It is remarkable how well this system worked. Problems only occurred when the king wanted to give up his intermediary role in the hope of becoming the leader of a uniH. Hotson, ‘Irenicism in the Confessional Age, the Holy Roman Empire, 1563– 1648’, in H.P. Louthan—R.C. Zachman (eds), Conciliation and Confession. The Struggle for Unity in the Age of Reform, 1415–1648 (Notre Dame, Ind. 2004), 228–285. 2 See for example Romans 12:5; 12:9–21; 1 Corinthians 1:10–11, and other places, mentioned by Hugo Grotius in his Votum pro pace ecclesiastica , Paris 1642. See H. Grotius, Opera omnia theologica (Amsterdam 1679), 3, 653. Cf. Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius, P.C. Molhuysen et al. (eds) (The Hague 1928–2001), 16, 7176, Grotius to Johan Oxenstierna, 3 December 1644. The edition of Grotius’s letters is hereafter referred to as BW. 3 See Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance échangée entre 1632 et 1648 , P. Leroy and H. Bots (eds) (Amsterdam-Maarssen 1987), 451, Saumaise to Rivet, [c. 10 October 1645], with a reference to Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians 2:11–14. 1

a flaming row in the republic of letters

493

form established church. This led to pluralism being threatened, which endangered internal peace in the realm. 4 Political developments forced the Protestants in France to describe their confession in very precise terms. In times of repression, the continued existence of their creed depended on dogmatic self-identification. Nevertheless, the Protestant community had had a long tradition of unionism. The orthodox Calvinist theologian Pierre du Moulin, a former professor in Leiden, examined the possibilities of unity between the Reformed Churches of England and France, hoping that the Lutheran Churches on the continent would join in at a later stage. At the twenty-first National Synod of the French Protestant Churches at Tonneins in France (2 May–3 June 1614), Du Moulin discussed this plan, which was also promoted by the English king James I. 5 In the 1620s, the ministers of Charenton, the Protestant community in Paris, declared themselves willing to admit adherents to the Lutheran confession to their number. They even showed some signs of tolerance towards individual followers of a heterodox sect like Arminianism. At the National Synod of the French Churches in Charenton in 1631, it was officially decided to admit Lutherans to the Lord’s Supper without a previous abjuration of their belief,6 evidently on the instigation of the local ministers of Charenton. It is important to know that kings and princes tried to advance this toilsome quest for unity. I have already referred to James I, the English king. In the first two decades of the seventeenth century, he embarked on an ambitious enterprise to organize an international council with the aim of restoring unity among Christians. The king even wanted to include the Roman Catholics, provided they excised the serious abuses that had crept into their church. Isaac Casaubon played a role in this strategy, just like his friend Hugo Grotius. Even more telling is the example of Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal and Duke de Richelieu,

4 A. Tallon, ‘Gallicanism and Religious Pluralism in France in the Sixteenth Century’, and R. Bonney, ‘The Obstacles to Pluralism in Early Modern France’, in K. Cameron et al. (eds), The Adventure of Religious Pluralism in Early Modern France. Papers from the Exeter Conference, April 1999 (Oxford etc. 2000), 15–30 (esp. 29–30), and 209–229 (esp. 226–229). 5 W.B. Patterson, King James VI and I and the Reunion of Christendom (Cambridge 1997), esp. 31–74 and 155–195. 6 J. Aymon, Tous les synodes nationaux des Eglises réformées de France (The Hague 1710), 2, 500–501; J. Pannier, L’Eglise réformée de Paris sous Louis XIII [de 1621 à 1629 environ] (Paris 1931–1932), 1, 456.

494

henk nellen

who in the 1630s backed another attempt at unity by Theophile Brachet de La Milletière. Richelieu was interested in creating a reformed and unified Gallican Church with himself as patriarch. 7 Many conciliators therefore felt themselves confirmed in their expectation that political leaders would be willing to support their undertaking. 8 William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, avoided any direct contact with Hugo Grotius, but Grotius informed the Swedish chancellor Axel Oxenstierna that Laud would support the plans for unity of the Scottish preacher 9 But in spite of John Dury if Sweden were willing to do the same. Oxenstierna’s patronage, Dury had no success. In 1638 he left Sweden a deeply disappointed man. When Queen Christina reached majority, however, unionism underwent a temporary revival. 10 Close connections with the worldly powers were essential to the conciliators, operating as they often did in an isolated position. Church leaders littered their paths with many obstructions, which they sought to overcome by forging agreements with political leaders. Dury ignored ordinary churchgoers, who in his eyes were very conservative and therefore would surely thwart him in his ambitions. 11 Unionism also affected the international world of learning. Many scholars sympathised with or actively promoted attempts to create

7 See F. Laplanche, L’Ecriture, le sacré et l’histoire: érudits et politiques protestants devant la Bible en France au XVII e siècle (Amsterdam etc. 1986), 22–23, with references to J. Orcibal, ‘Le patriarcat de Richelieu devant l’opinion’ (Appendice IV), in Idem, Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, abbé de Saint-Cyran . . . , 2, 108–152; P. Blet, ‘Le plan de Richelieu pour la réunion des protestants’, in Gregorianum 48 (1967), 100–129. 8 See BW 9, 3416, to Axel Oxenstierna, 9 January 1638. 9 BW 8, 3372, and 9, 3416. On John Dury (or Durie), see C.H.W. van den Berg in Theologische Realenzyklopädie 9 (Berlin-New York 1982), 242–245, and the works mentioned there. 10 S. Åkerman, Queen Christina of Sweden and her Circle: the Transformation of a Seventeenth-Century Philosophical Libertine (Leiden etc. 1991), 130–136. 11 Dury repeatedly confided to his correspondents that the realisation of his projects was dependent on influential authorities. Dury solicited the patronage of eminent and powerful leaders like Laud and Oxenstierna. He realised that without their resolute support he would inevitably fail to further his unification ideals. In this respect his letter to Sir Thomas Roe of 9 December 1637 is very informative. As appears in other letters as well, Dury kept up a close relationship with Oxenstierna, who took a genuine interest in the ambitious plans of the Scotsman and was ready to support him more than Swedish interests seemed to call for: G. Westin (ed.), ‘Brev från John Durie åren 1636–1638’, in Kyrkohistorisk Årsskrift 33 (1933) (Uppsala-Stockholm 1934), 193–349 (esp. 280–283). See also S. Murdoch, Network North. Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603–1746 (Leiden-Boston 2006), 280–312.

a flaming row in the republic of letters

495

peace.12 In this positive disposition, scepticism towards scholastic dogmatism often played an important role. In the German Palatinate, the learned administrator and councillor Georg Michael Lingelsheim supported Protestant unity on an Erasmian basis. His friend Matthias Bernegger envisaged some chance of success, provided that powerful politicians took the matter to heart. 13 A famous scholar like Marin Mersenne, a latitudinarian Roman Catholic monk and priest, was inclined to support church unity. He proposed the idea of a general council of secular leaders, who could enforce ecclesiastical unity once peace had been achieved in the political field.14 All in all, many princes, prelates and politicians clearly regarded church unity as an ideal worth striving for, even though a successful outcome was not immediately to be expected: if the right kind of seeds were sown, these would develop into trees bearing ripe fruit in the fullness of time. 15 Grotius and Saumaise, the vicissitudes of a friendship Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) and Claude Saumaise (1588–1653) are two well-known seventeenth-century scholars whose lives show opposite patterns. Grotius had played an important role in Dutch politics, but as early as 1619 he was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, thus bringing his career in the Netherlands to an end. In March 1621 he managed to escape and settled in France. Eleven years later, in November 1632, Saumaise made a journey in the opposite direction, from France to Holland, where he had accepted an honourable position at the University of Leiden. 16 By publishing books in defence of the Protestant cause, his task was to add lustre to the reputation of the university. In France, Grotius was able to publish his works without too many 12 See also G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes, ‘Protestant Irenicism in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’, in D. Loades (ed.), The End of Strife (Edinburgh 1984), 77–93 (esp. 88–93). 13 BW 9, 3469. Cf. A.E. Walter, Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik: die europäische Gelehrtenrepublik um 1600 im Spiegel der Korrespondenzen Georg Michael Lingelsheims (Tübingen 2004). 14 Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne , C. de Waard et al. (eds) (Paris 1932– 1988), 11, 156, 168 and, in particular, 293–294, Mersenne to Rivet, 12 October 1642. 15 BW 10, 4599 and 4632. 16 See, for a recent biographical sketch of Saumaise: W.Th.M. Frijhoff in Biografisch Lexicon voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlandse protestantisme 6 (Kampen 2006), 266–271. On Grotius, see my Hugo de Groot. Een leven in strijd om de vrede, 1583– 1645 (Amsterdam 2007).

496

henk nellen

Fig. 29. Lucas Vorsterman, Portrait of Claude Saumaise , engraving. Leiden University Library / Prentenkabinet, inv.nr. 1219a

a flaming row in the republic of letters

497

Fig. 30. Anonymous, Portrait of Hugo Grotius, engraving. G. Brandt, Historie der Reformatie en andre Kerkelyke Geschiedenissen II, Amsterdam 1674

498

henk nellen

problems, because of his increasing Roman Catholic sympathies. Saumaise, by contrast, preferred Holland, where he had the liberty to attack the papacy. In the period 1621–1631, and during two extended visits by Saumaise to France in the years 1635–1636 and 1640–1643, the two scholars met regularly. In between, they maintained friendly contacts in a frequent exchange of letters, 36 of which have come down to us, 17 written by Grotius and 19 by Saumaise. Initially, their relationship was cordial, the more so because they were both engaged in battle with the same adversary, Daniel Heinsius. From 1635 onwards, Grotius served as Queen Christina’s ambassador at the French court. He also collaborated with Saumaise in providing reliable texts of the Anthologia Graeca and Procopius. 17 During his stays in France, the French government tried to persuade Saumaise to settle there permanently. In many letters he admitted he was in two minds about this: he did not accept the offers wholeheartedly, but neither did he reject them out of hand. As he said himself, he had to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis. 18 He showed deep respect for mighty French political leaders; together they formed the vis maior, the superior power held by administrators like Richelieu, Henri II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, and Cardinal Jules Mazarin, who tried to entice him with sweet words, splendid offers and even covert threats. He appeared to give in, because he felt very unsure of himself, oppressed as he was by poor health and a dominant wife who hated Holland. She humiliated him, but at the same time she burdened her henpecked husband with the financial care of a growing family. Finally, Saumaise’s dilemma was compounded by the hope that he might be able to play Leiden off against Paris in order to secure higher wages in one of the two cities. 19 Although he had been granted

17 Grotius’s edition of the epigrams in the Anthologia Graeca (also containing a metrical Latin translation) appeared posthumously (Utrecht 1795–1822), similar to his Latin translation of a carefully emended Procopius text. The translation, containing the passages in the Historiae and Anecdota on the Goths and Vandals, formed part of a collection of sources selected to support the ancestry of the Swedish kingdom: Historia Gotthorum, Vandalorum et Langobardorum (Amsterdam 1655). 18 Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance , 258, Saumaise to Rivet, 15 March 1641. 19 P. Leroy, Le dernier voyage à Paris et en Bour gogne (1640–1643) du réformé Claude Saumaise (Amsterdam-Maarssen 1983), 107–116, for a detailed survey of the motives and considerations in this dilemma.

a flaming row in the republic of letters

499

freedom of religion, 20 Saumaise fully understood that in France one thing would always be missing: freedom of speech. And this freedom was something he cherished, especially when it came to defending the faith which he had professed since his youth and which he also considered to be the best. In a conversation with Richelieu, he admitted that he would never give up his belief after all his years of study fervently devoted to discovering the truth. 21 Ultimately, Saumaise preferred spiritual freedom and punctual payment of a ‘scabby’ salary in Holland to a future in France that looked very uncertain. The French leaders, he said, would not give twopence for his beautiful eyes, eminent virtue and shining erudition if he held to a religion they hated. 22 The pressure on Saumaise was considerable, as became clear in October 1644, when he received an official mandate, issued by the French king, to return to his fatherland, a command that was followed some weeks later by an offer of an annual pension of 6000 pounds. Saumaise also refused to accept this last, very urgent offer. Grotius regarded Saumaise’s wavering with suspicion: was Saumaise hoping for a compromise? 23 Grotius’s own muchdesired return to Holland was out of the question, not only because of his political past, but also because his unionist publications had caused a great deal of fuss at home. In his letters he reported on Saumaise’s deliberations.24 According to Saumaise, he had confirmed the mighty nobleman Condé in his aim of keeping him in France. 25 By now, the friendship between Grotius and Saumaise had cooled. Their estrangement began in 1638. On 28 May 1638 Grotius wrote a letter to consult Saumaise on an exegetical and philological problem. He was preparing a tract on the Antichrist, but he gave no inkling of his intentions to his friend. 26 After some delay, Saumaise answered in

20 Cf. Leroy, Le dernier voyage , 233–234, Gilles Ménage to Saumaise, 1 December 1642. 21 Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 131. 22 Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 133. 23 BW 16, 7186, to Willem de Groot, 10 December 1644. Saumaise had good reasons for his hesitation: ‘Dominus Salmasius non immerito haesitat. Opto ei ut consilia capiat quae ex re ipsius erunt familiaeque eius.’ 24 BW 14, 6030, to W. de Groot, 9 January 1643. Saumaise had promised Richelieu that he would stay in France, but it was dubious whether he would stick to his word now that other political leaders had taken over government. 25 Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance , 448, dated 24 September 1645. 26 BW 9, 3600. Grotius asked for information about the numerical value of the Greek character σ or ς. He wanted to divide 666, the mark of the beast (Apocalyps

500

henk nellen

a long and very learned letter. 27 It was to be one of their last epistolary exchanges, because not long afterwards frictions occurred which seriously troubled the friendship. In his tract, Grotius intended to demonstrate that it was a historical mistake to identify the pope with the Antichrist. In this, he was going against an opinion that had commonly been held by Protestants since the beginnings of the Reformation. 28 As a full-fledged humanist, he took it for granted that Biblical visions and predictions must have had real significance for the people living at the time especially. He sought a plausible explanation for the passages on the Antichrist in the persecution and suppression of the Christians and the excesses of pagan belief in the Roman Empire. In this way he tried to rehabilitate the bishop of Rome and so remove one obstacle blocking the path to unity. According to Saumaise, however, it was primarily the dominant position of the pope in the ecclesiastical hierarchy that was responsible for the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church and its decline. He pointed out that the conciliators deemed the papacy necessary to suppress the schism, while he considered the schism necessary to suppress the papacy. 29 He demonstrated this primarily in his De primatu papae of 1645, but he challenged the papacy in other works as well. The bishop of Rome was not superior to other bishops. He had only managed to rise above them because his see was located in the most prestigious city in the Empire. In the ancient church, the offices of bishop and priest were interchangeable.30 After De antichristo, Grotius published a whole series of unionist treatises, all of them propagating the popular faith of the ancient church as a basis for unification. Saumaise sharply denounced these works. He attested his condemnation of Grotius and other conciliators 13:18), into numbers that would equalize characters spelling the name ‘Oulpios’, in order to prove that the Bible referred to the Roman emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajanus (98–117) instead of the papacy. Cf. H. Grotius, Commentatio de Antichristo (Amsterdam 1640), in H. Grotius, Opera omnia theologica, 3, 470–471. 27 BW 9, 3689, from Saumaise, 25 July 1638. 28 A. Seifert, Der Rückzug der biblischen Prophetie von der neueren Geschichte: Studien zur Geschichte der Reichstheologie des frühneuzeitlichen deutschen Protestantismus (Cologne-Vienna 1990), 7. 29 Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 240. 30 Leroy, Le dernier voyage , 147; Correspondance intégrale d’André Rivet et de Claude Sarrau 1641–1650, H. Bots—P. Leroy (eds) (Amsterdam 1978–1982), 3, 142– 145, Rivet to Sarrau, 19 June 1645. See also Cl. Salmasius, Librorum de primatu papae pars prima (Leiden 1645), ‘Apparatus ad libros de primatu’, 3–4, and ‘De primatu papae tractatus’, 1–12, 63; Idem, Simplicii Verini ad Iustum Pacium epistola ([Leiden] 1646), 81–82.

a flaming row in the republic of letters

501

in many letters, in which he stressed three main arguments: the necessity of the Reformation, the unfeasibility of unification, and the lack of the conciliators’ credibility. The Reformation had been necessary to reverse the church’s decline. The ancient church offered a guideline, as it was possible to remove excesses on the basis of the religious life of those early days. Among these excesses Saumaise counted the primacy of the pope, the doctrine of transubstantiation and the doctrine of purgatory.31 These points involved essential differences which were impossible to obscure without betraying the Reformation. A compromise in the sense of a partial reform was no solution, because the rot would soon set in again and would progress until rock bottom had been reached.32 Consequently, he also disapproved of celibacy, the monastic orders and vows, the Latin rite, indulgences, rosaries, medallions, holy water, and the pompous vestments of the Mass. 33 Grotius had to realize that Rome would never give in. It was from this centre of power that the pope directed the affairs of the church, surrounded by a hard core of scholastically trained theologians who advised him in all possible dogmatic and ecclesiastical questions. He deemed himself infallible and behaved tyrannically, convinced as he was that any concessions had to be made by the apostate believers. 34 Any reform whatsoever of the papacy was therefore inconceivable, but in spite of that the conciliators refused to abolish it. This meant in fact that they were handing the poor Huguenots over to the strongest party. Tied hand and foot, with a leash around their necks, these believers could do nothing but ask the Holy Father to forgive them for the schism they had caused. After they had kissed his slippers in deep reverence,35 they would be sent away to do penance for the rest of their lives for the simple fact of being Huguenots. 36 The idea of bringing about unification was as foolish as the attempt to merge the Latin and Italian languages into one. ‘Reunion’ just 31 Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance , 272, Saumaise to Rivet, 24 January 1642; Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 241; 243–244. 32 Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 167, Saumaise to Sarrau, 2 May 1642: ‘Et quand on ne fait les Réformations qu’à demy, on ne fait rien. Car les choses retournent aisément à leurs principes.’ 33 See below, Appendix. 34 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. coll. Dupuy no. 898, f. 159, Saumaise to Jacques Dupuy, 13 June 1642. 35 See below, Appendix. 36 Leroy, Le dernier voyage , 240–241, Saumaise to Ismael Boulliau, 28 December 1641.

502

henk nellen

meant the reduction of Protestantism until it had dwindled away completely. On 18 April 1642, Saumaise with visionary power predicted to his co-religionists a future which did indeed materialize at the end of the century with the announcement of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. ‘With a tiny piece of parchment the French government will be able to destroy us and wipe out our religion by chasing away its last few adherents.’ 37 It was to such an evil plan that the conciliators subscribed. If they originated from the Roman-Catholic camp, Saumaise was inclined to condone their actions: because the pope would never agree to act as their spokesman, they lacked authority, but they were demonstrating a laudable wish to counteract the decline of their church. On the other hand, Saumaise never showed the least sympathy for Protestant peacemakers like Grotius. They were fouling their own nests, because they held Catholicism to be superior, renounced the Reformation and thus sacrificed the truth. In short, they were misleading their fellow believers. Why did they not defect to Rome if they considered them to be deformed rather than reformed: ‘Pourquoi demeurent-ils parmi nous, s’ils nous iugent estre plustost difformés que réformés?’38 Saumaise could not tolerate Grotius’s plea for unity. He waged a war that was characteristic of the way conflicts were dealt with in the learned world of the seventeenth century. Gradually, things started to intensify. In letters to his friends, he first presented his intention to oppose Grotius in all openness. ‘I foresee that we will collide one day.’39 Before long, he was referring to Grotius in such a negative vein that he can only be said to have been driven by nothing less than pathological hatred. At a time when Grotius was entangled in a fierce polemic with the orthodox minister André Rivet, Saumaise, who had hitherto kept his peace, pointed out that Rivet was being much too Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 243–244: ‘On peut par un petit morceau de parchemin, nous reduire à neant et exterminer de la France cette profession en chassant ceux qui la font.’ There was, however, one consolation, as Saumaise pointed out: his religion would endure forever, because it had left traces in the sources, just as all those sects and philosophical schools had done since time immemorial. As a stream of water they all flowed from one source; but whoever wanted to unify these waters again was striving for an impossible goal. 38 Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 234–235, Saumaise to J. Dupuy, 14 December 1641. 39 Leroy, Le dernier voyage , 159, 177 and 178, Saumaise to Cl. Sarrau, 1 November 1641 (‘Je prévois que nous colleterons quelque jour’), 26 September 1642, and 1 November 1642 (‘Je prévois que nous ne serons pas longtemps, sans nous harper, car je ne scaurois plus endurer cela’). 37

a flaming row in the republic of letters

503

kind-hearted. It was not enough to stab the enemy with a dagger; one had to add twenty wounds after death had occurred and then cover the body decently with a sheet. If one proceeded half-heartedly, the antagonist would certainly revive to become a nuisance again. 40 According to Saumaise, Grotius was fomenting trouble among the Huguenots; 41 he was destroying religion. 42 Shortly after Grotius’s death, Saumaise diminished the significance of Grotius’s learned works in a long letter to his friend Claude Sarrau. 43 Although Saumaise had distanced himself from his old friend in letters to other scholars, he had always avoided an open breach. In the autumn of 1643 the two scholars met again, but by then Saumaise had already reached the next stage of the quarrel. He published three works in which he dealt Grotius some venomous pinpricks. 44 Grotius noticed these covert attacks, but he refused to react and limited himself to a proud shrug: ‘Saumaise is looking for trouble,’ he said, ‘quaerit rixam’.45 Only after Grotius’s death, in 1646, did Saumaise publish two pamphlets against him, Ad Iustum Pacium epistola and De transsubstantiatione, comprising nearly a thousand pages in octavo. A pseudonym, Simplicius Verinus, and a false imprint served to hide the provenance of both books. 46

40 Leroy, Le dernier voyage , 171, Saumaise to Sarrau, 11 July 1642: ‘Ce n’est pas assez de donner un coup de poignard à son ennemy, il lui en faut donner une vingtaine après sa mort, et puis lui couvrir la face de son drap.’ 41 Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 239, Saumaise to Boulliau, 28 December 1641. 42 Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance, 445, letter dated [17 September 1645]. See also ibid., 391, letter dated 13 November 1644. 43 Thomas Crenius, Animadversiones philologicae et historicae, novas librorum editiones, praefationes, indices, nonnullasque summorum aliquot virorum labeculas notatas excutientes . . .(Leiden 1697), 1, 23–26, Saumaise to Sarrau, 20 November 1645. Another version of this letter, on the basis of a copy in the Royal Library in The Hague, in F.F. Blok, Nicolaas Heinsius in dienst van Christina van Zweden (Delft 1949), 265–266. 44 Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance , 345–346, Saumaise to Rivet, 13 March 1644. See also Marquardi Gudii . . . epistolae, quibus accedunt . . . et Claudii Sarravii epistolae . . ., P. Burmannus (ed.) (Utrecht 1697), 2, 168, Sarrau to Saumaise, 1 June 1646, with a reference to three recent publications: De Hellenistica commentarius, controversiam de lingua Hellenistica decidens et plenissime pertractans originem ac dialectos Graecae linguae (Leiden 1643); Funus linguae Hellenisticae, sive Confutatio exercitationis de Hellenistis et lingua Hellenistica (Leiden 1643); Miscellae defensiones pro Cl. Salmasio, de variis observationibus et emendationibus ad ius Atticum et Romanum pertinentibus (Leiden 1645), against the Paris lawyer Didier Hérauld. 45 BW 15, 6743 and 6779, to W. de Groot, 5 and 26 March 1644. 46 Simplicii Verini ad Iustum Pacium epistola. Sive iudicium de libro postumo H. Grotii, published in ‘Hagiopolis’, by Christianus Catharinus [= Leiden: Joannes

504

henk nellen

In a way, the lives of both scholars were affected by confessionalisation, the hardening of demarcation lines between the Christian confessions, a process that often resulted from repressive government control. Grotius stated that as a diplomat he worked in an ‘asylum’, a port of refuge so to speak, where he did not have to worry about worldly interests.47 Nevertheless, it is beyond any doubt that his irenicism was detrimental to his diplomatic career. Saumaise had to stay in Leiden in order to publish his anti-papal tracts. His aggressiveness may be explained by the fact that religious pluralism did not provide him with the liberty to vent his opinions in France, whereas Grotius was given the opportunity to preach conciliatory schemes which threatened the Protestant community. This happened at the very moment that governmental repression of the Huguenots was on the increase again.48 Furthermore, it was a source of great annoyance to Saumaise that French government officials kept holding Grotius’s case up to him as an example. Grotius was a wise courtier who accepted the papacy. Why was Saumaise so stubborn as not to give up his plan of publishing De primatu papae? This advice concluded with the warning that he had better adapt himself, or else he would be exposed to serious risks. 49 When he heard that the French clergy, on the instigation of Condé, wanted to burn his book, he wrote, in profound indignation, that the books would certainly be followed by the people: ‘Après les livres, on viendra aux personnes.’ 50 Perhaps he felt somewhat consoled by the fact that Grotius had also met with fierce resistance. Grotius’s expectation that the Gallican Church might be reformed in such a way that it would become an attractive alternative to the French Protestants remained unfulfilled.51 Maire? ] in 1646. De transsubstantiatione liber Simplicio Verino auctore. Ad Iustum Pacium contra H. Grotium , Hagiopoli, typis Theodori Eudoxi [= Leiden: François Hackius] 1646. 47 BW 11, 4599, 4663, and BW 12, 5061, letters addressed to Willem de Groot, 14 April, 26 May 1640, and 16 February 1641. In the last letter Grotius states: ‘Deus hanc legationem mihi dedit, ut libere loquar; quod, etiamsi legatio absit, alicubi facturus sum.’ 48 F.P. van Stam, The Controversy over the Theology of Saumur, 1635–1650: Disrupting Debates among the Huguenots in Complicated Circumstances (AmsterdamMaarssen 1988), 4–13. 49 Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance , 281, dated 29 March 1642. 50 Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance , 457, dated 21 December 1645; Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 193, Saumaise to Sarrau, 19 December 1645. 51 Cf. BW 9, 3656, to Axel Oxenstierna, 3 July 1638. Here Grotius states that, according to some commentators, Nostradamus’s Centuriae 6, 57 seemed to confirm Richelieu’s aspirations for the patriarchate.

a flaming row in the republic of letters

505

The role of letters in scholarly debate It is clear from the above that confessionalisation made itself felt in the learned world, even in the seventeen-century Republic of Letters, where letters or live conversation constantly bridged national, confessional or cultural dividing lines. Grotius and Saumaise hesitated to discuss their views on church unity among themselves. This cautious attitude resulted from opportunism, as they were afraid to hamper a smooth exchange of neutral scholarly information. In the end, it was Saumaise’s militancy that brought matters to a head. The way in which their friendship cooled and turned into bitter enmity is also illustrative, because in this process letters played a major part. At first, there was cordial epistolary contact, but this only lasted until the first signs of friction appeared. While both scholars for a while kept up appearances when they met, they were soon acting independently and trying to gain support through their correspondences with others. They exploited their circles of friends and acquaintances in order to get information about their adversary. Grotius appealed for support to his brother Willem de Groot, 52 whereas Saumaise activated a whole circle of co-religionists like Claude Sarrau, André Rivet and Johan de Laet.53 Before long, the letter became a means to strengthen their own party and to weaken that of the adversary. In the first place, therefore, correspondence served as a weapon. The letter writer made propaganda for himself, discussed strategy and worked himself up for an open attack in a pamphlet. In short, the letter widened the gulf instead of bridging it. In the quarrel between Grotius and Saumaise, letters were not used as a medium for the writer to constantly express his innermost feelings and hesitations. This will have been the case only in personal contacts with supporters and intimate friends, as we see in the correspondences mentioned above. Every now and then, the letter writers alluded to controversial views and frictions between religion, research and career, but even in those cases they remained reticent, only to postpone any confidential observations until the next personal contact.54 52 H.J.M. Nellen, ‘Hugo Grotius’ correspondence with his brother Willem de Groot’, in Grotiana, New series 24/25 (2003/2004), 3–24. 53 Cf. BW 15, p. 233, from W. de Groot, 15 March 1644. 54 Leroy, Le dernier voyage , 237 (‘Je vous en dirois davantage sur ce chapitre si i’estois près de vous’), 238 (‘Ce sera lors que i’auray l’honneur de vous revoir que

506

henk nellen

There is, however, another reason for assuming that internal frictions were important. Both fighting cocks were exposed to heavy pressure from their direct surroundings. Grotius’s own correspondents used to swamp him with objections and complaints regarding his crusade for unity. Saumaise for his part had to cope with ceaseless pressure from André Rivet to serve the interests of the Huguenot community with his polemical writings. As Rivet stated himself, he never tired of supporting the scholar in his firm stance: ‘je ne luy escri jamais que je ne le presse et exhorte.’ 55 Saumaise informed his allies of every detail of his quarrel with Grotius. By doing so, he enables us to see how the letter functioned in his personal campaign. As already pointed out before, he published his pamphlets against Grotius under a pseudonym and a false imprint. In letters to his friends, however, he denied his authorship by simulating innocence in a transparent, mocking way. In the meantime, he fooled the outside world into believing that his high esteem for Grotius was still intact. The only vestiges of their earlier friendship were the letters both scholars had once exchanged. Immediately after the death of Grotius, Claude Sarrau suggested honouring the famous scholar with a publication of selected letters. In 1648, the Leiden Elzeviers published the Epistolae ad Gallos, a collection of letters sent by Grotius to French scholars,56 amongst whom, surprisingly enough, Saumaise occupied a prominent place. Apparently, Saumaise had no scruples about handing the letters that he had once received from Grotius over to the printer. Furthermore, he obligingly perused all letters and accepted without protest that the edition of Grotius’s correspondence should be given priority over one of his own works. In a confidential letter to a friend in Paris, Jacques Dupuy, he once more explained that the breach with Grotius had been inevitable: Now you can see how things tend to go in a world where nothing is sure and where even the best friendships do not last any longer than anything else that is subject to eternal instability.

ie vous entretiendray plus particulierement’) and 241 (‘Je n’aime point d’entrer en malice et disputer sur la religion ou reunion des religions, mais vous m’y avés obligé par la vostre’). 55 Correspondance intégrale de Rivet et Sarrau 1, 49, Rivet to Sarrau, 20 January 1642. See also ibid. 3, 525–526. 56 Hugonis Grotii Epistolae ad Gallos, nunc primum editae (Leiden: Elzevier, 1648).

a flaming row in the republic of letters

507

The collection proclaimed the joys of a friendship, which had now turned into a bitter feud as far as Saumaise was concerned. 57 The Epistolae ad Gallos contained the letters of Grotius to Saumaise and other French correspondents, not those of Saumaise to Grotius. This second half of the dialogue had its own history. Grotius’s widow Maria van Reigersberch was very upset by Saumaise’s attacks on the reputation of her husband. She threatened to publish twenty-four letters in her possession which Saumaise had addressed to Grotius, thus telling the whole world how Saumaise had honoured Grotius when he was still alive, only to tear him to pieces after he had died. And this behaviour was all the more shocking because in his publications Grotius had repeatedly praised Saumaise, even comparing him to a man like Josephus Justus Scaliger. 58 My personal view is that in this particular part of the learned world the letter was not used as a means to bear witness to interior strife and scruples of a troubled conscience. Such had already been done at an earlier stage which remains hidden to us. But the letter did offer an outstanding and effective means to explain and justify to friends and kindred spirits the position taken by someone in a religious controversy. The tragedy of the conflict between these two scholars lies in the assiduousness with which they both appealed to the doctrines of the ancient church. Without any doubt, Grotius was a latitudinarian. He explained away most of the differences in dogmas, rites and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. coll. Dupuy no. 789, f. 61v-62r, Saumaise to J. Dupuy, 14 October 1647: ‘Nous allons imprimer les lettres de Grotius, où il y en a un bon nombre à vous et à Monsieur vostre frere. Je les ai toutes parcourues. J’y joindrai ici celles que j’ai eues de lui quoi qu’on en puisse dire. Il ne m’avoit pas en si bonne opinion quand il est mort, et avoit autant changé de l’affection qu’il me tesmoignoit aultrefois comme en aultres choses. La cause de ce changement envers moi estoit qu’il commençoit d’estre trop bon aux jesuites et me tenoit pour trop bon calviniste. Voila, comme le monde va, où il n’y a rien de stable et les meilleurs amitiés n’y sont non plus perdurables que tout le reste qui est dans une per[pe]tuelle mutabilité.’ 58 Marquardi Gudii . . . et Claudii Sarravii epistolae . . ., 2, 165, Sarrau to Saumaise, 4 May 1646: ‘[. . .] parum abest, inquit [Grotii vidua], quin edam viginti quatuor, quas habeo, Salmasii ad maritum meum literas, ut videat orbis quantum ei vivo detulerit, qui iam defunctum crudelissime lacerat. At ὁ μακαρίτης coniux meus eum semper coluit, quin etiam saepissime in libris suis honorifice compellavit. Et, ut audio, etiam nuper in novissimo opere eum una linea cum Scaligero laudavit, et magnos viros nuncupavit.’ After these words Sarrau went on to say: ‘Sed hae sunt iratae mulieris inanes querimoniae. Vera tamen sunt quae de te a marito suo laudato dicit et habentur tomo 2 Annotationum in Novum Testamentum, p. 611.’ Cf. H. Grotius, Opera omnia theologica, 2, 915 A 11–12, ad Philippians 2:30: ‘[. . .] quomodo viri magni Scaliger et Salmasius monuere.’ 57

508

henk nellen

ecclesiastical organisation. Saumaise, by contrast, considered the differences to be insurmountable obstacles. He preferred to hold on to the achievements of the Reformation, in a sincere conviction that compromise would inevitably lead to decay and atheism. That is why he firmly withstood pressure from the French government, in spite of his strong feelings of homesickness. He preferred to die in a garment that befitted a Protestant. Such a garment was simple, without frills and fuss, but it offered a protection against the cold that was at least as effective and comforting.59 Appendix In Simplicii Verini ad Iustum Pacium epistola (Leiden 1646), Saumaise listed a long series of Roman Catholic excesses and malpractices. He wanted papal supremacy, which had degenerated into tyranny, as well as the hierarchy of bishops to be abolished. The number of sacraments had to be reduced to two (baptism and communion) and they were to be administered as Christ had prescribed. The doctrine of transubstantiation needed to be done away with, as did the adoration of saints and angels. Furthermore, his programme contained the removal of images, the rejection of purgatory, monastic life and vows, as well as the abolition of holy water, consecrated church bells and herbs, celibacy, the Latin rite and pompous vestments in the Mass. With this in mind, it is remarkable that Saumaise appealed to the ancient church for all the points in his programme: over the last ten centuries, religious life had been infected with excesses that contradicted the evangelical truth, apostolic teaching and praxis of the ancient church. Although daily rituals as well as the debate on intricate theological issues allowed for a deliberate diversity, all serious malpractices had to be wiped out. Once more, Saumaise then lapses into a diatribe against indulgences, processions, amulets, rosaries and candles. Under the auspices of the papacy and out of sheer greed, a fraudulent clergy had imposed a wide variety of superstitions on the credulous churchgoers. Such was the

59 ‘Et de plus ie vous dirai que dans la creance que i’ai, encore qu’elle ne soit si estendue que la vostre, i’y trouve neantmoins assés de quoi procurer mon salut, et croi que mon habit de Chrestien est aussi bon que le vostre, d’aussi beau drap et me tient autant chaud contre le froid que pourroit faire le vostre.’ For this beautiful letter, see Leroy, Le dernier voyage, 242, Saumaise to Boulliau, 5 April 1642.

a flaming row in the republic of letters

Fig. 31. Hugo Grotius, Letter to Claude Saumaise (24 February 1631). Amsterdam University Library, Collection Remonstrantse Gemeente Amsterdam, ms. Q 3

509

510

henk nellen

a flaming row in the republic of letters

511

512

henk nellen

papal tyranny that Christian believers who refused to conform to these abuses, had no alternative but to enforce a schism. 60 In response to Grotius, who agreed with the reformer Melanchthon that the primacy of the pope was conducive to unity, 61 Saumaise took great pleasure in ridiculing the ancient custom of worldly leaders kissing the pope’s feet when presented to him at an audience. He asked what simple people like himself were to do if they went to Rome on an imaginary trip to attend a meeting with the pope, after the unity promoted by Grotius had been realised. Which part of the body would the bishop of Rome then offer for a kiss? ‘We consult about how to greet him. We have learnt already that to sovereigns he stretches his foot to kiss. So what will he do with us, men of humble condition? Which part of his body will he offer for us to kiss? ‘Quam partem corporis offeret ad osculum? ’ Saumaise then concludes that the echo of the Vatican Hill will reply to this question by repeating the final two syllables of osculum, lengthening the first of them: ‘cūlum’, i.e. his posterior.62

Simplicii Verini ad Iustum Pacium epistola , 39–69. H. Grotius, Rivetiani Apologetici Discussio (Amsterdam 1645), in H. Grotius, Opera omnia theologica, 3, 744 B 35–37. 62 Simplicii Verini ad Iustum Pacium epistola , 78–79: ‘De more salutandi consultamus. Iam didicimus quod principibus crepidam porrigat osculandam. Quid igitur nobis fiet tenuis sortis homunculis? Quam partem corporis offeret ad osculum? Vaticani montis echo pro responso syllabas duas ultimas resonans iterat, priorem etiam producendo.’ The second syllable of ‘osculum’ (kiss) is short, the first syllable of ‘culum’ (ass) is long. Cf. Claude Saumaise et André Rivet. Correspondance , 63–64, Saumaise to Rivet, 29 December [1634]. 60 61

PUBLIC POSES REVEALED: FROM CRITICAL EDITION TO REVISION. THE CASE OF HERMANNUS SAMSONIUS Jim Dobreff (Lund) The increasing number of scholarly editions of correspondences from the early modern period establishes a higher grade of scholarly criteria for historians and other academics working with related topics, particularly in relation to scholarship based upon unpublished documents. The publication of a critical edition of an extensive correspondence establishes a defined text that the scholarly community can use as a basis for further research. A new edition, particularly if it is a first edition, facilitates scholarly debate in that it enables a large group of individuals to conduct scholarly reviews of research based on the contents of such editions. Research based on unpublished materials, such as archival documents, can produce astounding results, but it is often not open to scholarly review. Simply getting to a single archive dissuades most scholars from reviewing the unpublished documents cited. This junction between scholarly research and an unedited document is where the historian and the philologist should meet; it is the ideal setting for interdisciplinary cooperation. A critical first edition of an extensive collection of documents or correspondence should, de facto, be welcomed as a harbinger of change for the scholarship related to the authors of the correspondence and the historic period encompassed by the documents edited. The first question should be, ‘How does this edition change what we know about the people and events involved?’ This is the natural flow from first edition to debate and from debate to revision. This essay represents a part of that flow from publication to reassessment. The first critical edition of the first nine years of the Latin correspondence of Hermannus Samsonius (1579–1643) to Axel Oxenstierna (1583–1654) was recently published by me. 1 The entire

J. Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna: Latin Correspondence from 1621 to 1630 with Linguistic and Historical Commentaries (Lund 2006). References to epistles published in this volume and in the remainder of the correspondence will be year-month-day (e.g. 1629-04-23), as used in my edition. 1

514

jim dobreff

correspondence extends to 1643, presently including eighty-seven letters, among them several to King Gustavus Adolphus II of Sweden and a few other nobles. 2 A careful reading of the entire correspondence provides a wealth of details that flesh out the evidence in a number of scholarly debates. These details will also, I hope, initiate a wider discussion of several aspects of scholarship related to Hermannus Samsonius. During a research trip to the city of Riga in Latvia and Tartu in Estonia in the summer of 2006, I rarely met a scholar or librarian who did not immediately recognize the name Hermannus Samsonius as Riga’s and Livonia’s most famous churchman and Riga’s most prolific author in the seventeenth century. In fact, the Latvian hostess of the Bed & Breakfast where I stayed knew of Samsonius. His local fame, I believe, extends from four factors: a cinematic film comedy with Samsonius as a central character; a depiction in a huge stained-glass window in Riga’s St Peter’s church of Samsonius, as the dean of St Peter’s, welcoming Gustavus Adolphus into Riga; the large number of works published by Samsonius; and lastly the establishment of Samsonius in Lutheran circles as Riga’s greatest Lutheran hero. 3 In Sweden, he is known to historians of the Swedish period in Livonia and theologians interested in the Lutheran response to the Counter-Reformation. Outside of Latvia, Estonia, and Sweden, Samsonius is known to a very limited number of historians and theologians. Research related to Samsonius is in either Swedish or German, while the primary sources are in Latin or German. 4 Since Samsonius’s modern reputation is so

2 I have prepared an initial draft of the remaining correspondence (1630–1643), and hope that the entire correspondence will be published as a volume in the series Rikskanslern Axel Oxenstiernas skrifter och brevväxling [abbreviated as AOSB = The Works and Correspondence of Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna ]. In the Oxenstierna correspondence, the Samsonian epistles form the most extensive collection from Livonia and they came from the pen of Livonia’s then most prolific and influential author and church leader. In these respects, the extensive AOSB would be the ideal venue for a complete edition of the Samsonius-Oxenstierna correspondence. Some of the most recent editions in AOSB, such as Letters from Sir James Spens and Jan Rutgers, A. Jönsson (ed.) (Stockholm 2007), are also availble on-line: www.ra.se/RA/ Oxenstierna/oxenstierna1engelska.html. 3 This will be discussed with relevant citations in a subsequent section. 4 I have not examined sources published in Russian, Estonian, Latvian or Polish. There are probably a number of secondary works, though, oddly enough, none of them are mentioned in any of the earlier secondary works in German from Riga or Latvia.

public poses revealed

515

extremely limited geographically, a very condensed biography of this famous citizen of Riga seems to be requested. Hermannus Samsonius was born in Riga in 1579 to Riga native Anna Bockerin and Naeman Samson.5 His father immigrated to Riga in 1568 from his native Gelderland in the Netherlands to serve as the commander of the city militia and citizen guard. The young Samsonius was a remarkable student in Riga; in fact, so remarkable that he is said to have been kidnapped by the Jesuits and carted off to Braunsberg when he refused to attend the Jesuit school in Riga. He escaped in the woods during the transport to Braunsberg and returned to Riga. 6 The Riga city council funded his studies at Rostock (1599–1600) and Wittenberg (1600–1608).7 He made quite a career at Wittenberg. He participated 5 Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , provides a detailed biography and the most extensive catalogue of the published and unpublished writings of Samsonius; for biographical information, see also F. Hollmann, ‘Die Gegenreformation und die Rigasche Domschule’, in Baltische Monatsschrift 34 (1887), 279–293; C.A. Berkholz, M. Hermann Samson: eine Kirchenhistorische Skizze (Riga 1856); E. Lundström, Bidrag till Livlands kyrkohistoria under den svenska tidens första skede: från Rigas intagande 1621 till freden i Oliva 1660 (Uppsala 1914); G. Kleeberg, Die Polnische Gegenreformation in Livland , Verein für Reformationsgeschichte 152 (Leipzig 1931); K. Tiersch, Deutsches Bildungswesen im Riga des 17. Jahrhundert , Deutsche Akademie 10 (Munich 1932); some specific aspects of Samsonian scholarship are treated in recent works, in particular see J. Krēsliņš, Dominus narrabit in scriptura populorum: A Study of Early Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Teaching on Preaching and the Lettische lang-gewünschte Postill of Georgius Mancelius , Wolfenbütteler Forschungen 54 (Wiesbaden 1992); M. Klöker, Literarisches Leben in Reval in der ersten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts (1600–1657): Institutionen der Gelehrsamkeit und Dichten bei Gelegenheit. Vol. I: Darstellung, Frühe Neuzeit 112 (Tübingen 2005), 205–216, and K. Viiding and J. Päll, ‘Die Glückwunschgedichte der Rigaer Gelehrten zur Inauguration der Dorpater Akademie im Jahre 1632’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 53 (2004), 299–322. 6 Johannes Breverus is the source of the story, which he relates in his biographical eulogy, ‘Memoriam Admodum Reverendi, Nobilissimi et Excellentissimi Theologi, D[omi]n[i] M. Hermanni Samsonii, Hereditarii in Vesten, Regii per Livoniam Superintendentis, Pastoris in Metropoli patria, & Professoris Primarii quondam Meritissimi, Oratione Panegyrica, in Illustri Rigensium Collegio, ex officio, ex debito, celebrare voluit. M. Joh. Breverus, Islebiens. Eloquentiae Prof. anno M. DC. XLIII’, in Memoriae theologorum nostri saeculi clarissimorum renovatae decas prima (-sexta) , (Königsberg 1674–1675), 510–540 (especially 510–513). 7 At Rostock, Samsonius studied with Eilhard Lubinus (Eilert Lübbens, 1565–1621) and Martin Brasch (c. 1565–1601). At Wittenberg, he studied with Aegidius Hunnius (1550–1603), Salomon Gessner (1559–1605), David Rungius (Runge, 1564–1604), Leonhard Hütter (1563–1616), Mehlführer (only last name is known to author), and the Aristotelians Jacob Martini (1570-? ) and Cornelius Martini (1568–1621). It is not clear whether Samsonius’s work with the Helmstedt professor Cornelius Martini was done in person at Wittenberg or whether the influence came from Samsonius’s

516

jim dobreff

in disputations both as respondent and frequently as author-respondent; two disputations are documented in 1602, and then one in 1603, 1604, 1605, 1606, and 1607. He was promoted to magister in 1605 and shortly thereafter appointed to preach at the Castle Church in place of Salomon Gessner, who had passed away. 8 As a further honor, the 25-year-old magister Samsonius was appointed to deliver a speech on the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Martin Luther. 9 For Samsonius, an orthodox Lutheran theologian with a firm training in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the defining strand of his life was the Jesuit Counter-Reformation in Livonia during the reign of Sigismund III Vasa (1587–1632). Samsonius was raised and educated in an atmosphere rife with religious contention between the Jesuits, who with the aid of the Polish king had been able to re-open their school in Riga, and the strong Protestant Lutheran majority in Riga. The Lutherans held all the churches except one, they controlled most of the city council, and they had absolute control of the Cathedral School. Samsonius graduated from that school, was sponsored by the city council during his university studies, and completed his studies at two Lutheran strongholds—Rostock and Luther’s own Wittenberg. At the bidding of the Riga city council, Samsonius left Wittenberg in 1608 to return to Riga and accept appointments as a preacher at St Peter’s and the inspector of the Cathedral School. The council made him dean of the Cathedral Church in 1611 and subsequently dean at St Peter’s in 1616.10 Besides teaching at the Cathedral School, performing the duties of the school inspector, and preaching, Samsonius led a continuous campaign against the Jesuits from his return to Riga in 1608 to the surrender of Riga to Gustavus Adolphus on 15 Septem-

use of his works. He also came into contact with the Metaphysician Daniel Cramer (1586–1637) while at Wittenberg, and seems to have had a close relationship with him thereafter; see Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 8–11. 8 For a detailed bibliography of these disputations and nearly all of the works of Samsonius, see Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 177–187. 9 H. Samsonius, Parentatio Anniversaria Pro Martino Luthero P.M. qua comparatio instituitur inter duo Spiritus sancti organa Mosen & Lutherum habita publice in illustri et celebri VVitebergensi Academia 18. Februarii, qui Constantiae et Concordiae inscribitur anno 1606. A M. Hermanno Samsonio Riga-Livono. VVitebergae excudebat VVolffgang Meisnerus impensis Pauli Helvvigii anno M. DCVI (Wittenberg 1606). 10 Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 12–18; Berkholz, M. Hermann Samson: eine Kirchenhistorische Skizze , 60–61; Tiersch, Deutsches Bildungswesen im Riga des 17. Jahrhundert , 28, 33; Kleeberg, Die Polnische Gegenreformation in Livland, 113.

public poses revealed

517

ber 1621. In that period he published twenty-two works, with eight of those being published outside of Riga. The overwhelming majority of these were polemical works against the Jesuits and Catholicism. The two best known are the Anti-Jesuita Primus and Anti-Jesuita Secundus, which were published as a single volume in 1615. 11 The polemics of his pen were an extension of his thundering from the pulpit and, doubtlessly, scholastic cathedra. These activities produced several efforts by the Jesuits to have him put on trial at the Polish court of Sigismund for religious agitation. 12 The surrender of Riga to Gustavus Adolphus in 1621 ended Samsonius’s direct conflict with the Jesuits and, with that, saw him honored for his efforts by his contemporaries and successors in Riga. 13 The Jesuits and Catholics were removed from Riga. As the Swedes, with unanticipated rapidity and success, extended their control over all of Polish Livonia from 1611 to the treaty of Altmark in 1629, the Jesuits abandoned Livonia. Reportedly, the last Jesuit left Livonia in 1625. 14 The surrender in 1621 resulted in Riga and its immediate surroundings being incorporated into the Swedish realm, although Riga retained all of its traditional rights of self-government in ecclesiastic, educational and political areas within the boundaries of the city. The continuous warfare between Polish and Swedish troops in Livonia and neighboring Courland from 1608 to 1621 had devastated the Livonian

11 Anti-Jesuita Primus, Sive Discussio et Confutatio Solida et Modesta aliquot quaestionum, quas Laurentius Nicolai Jesuita tractat in initio libri sui, quem hoc titulo inscripsit: Confessio Christiana de via Domini, Quam Christianus Populus in Tribus Regnis Septentrionalibus, Daniae, Sueciae, & Norwegiae constanter professus est, &c. Editus Studio & opera M. Hermanni Samsoni . . . Giessae Hassorum, Typis Nicolai Hampelii, Typogr. Academ. MDCXV (Giessen 1615). And Anti-Jesuita Secundus, Sive Confutatio Altera Libri istius, quem Laurentius Nicolai Jesuita . . . in lucem edidit, adornata à M. Hermanno Samsonio . . . Giessae Hessorum, Excudebat Nicolaus Hampelius, Typogr. Acad. M DC XV (Giessen 1615). 12 The presence of Swedish troops in Livonia during most of this period probably made it politically awkward, if not impossible, for the Catholic Sigismund to remove Samsonius, the Dean of St Peter’s, from Riga. For a detailed treatment of this period and related bibliography see Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 12–18. 13 Berkholz, M. Hermann Samson: eine Kirchenhistorische Skizze ; B. Hollander, Geschichte der Domschule, des späteren Stadtgymnasiums zu Riga , Beiträge zur baltischen Geschichte 10 (completed in 1934; first published 1980 in Hannover, ed. Clara Redlich), 27; and Tiersch, Deutsches Bildungswesen im Riga des 17. Jahrhunderts , 27. The last three consider Samsonius to be the greatest graduate of the Riga Cathedral School. 14 Hollmann, ‘Die Gegenreformation und die rigasche Domschule’, 293.

518

jim dobreff

countryside, as well as the churches in the countryside, cities and towns of Livonia—with the exception of Riga and Pernau. Gustavus Adolphus, most likely after consulting chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (who had studied and become friends with Samsonius at Rostock and Wittenberg from 1600–1602), 15 appointed Samsonius as the first superintendent of churches and schools in Livonia on 26 August 1622. 16 The royal mandate describing the authority and jurisdiction of the superintendent was sweeping. Geographically, his authority covered Swedish holdings from the Daugava River to the border with Swedish Estonia. He was to appoint suitable pastors, organize the church administration, settle ecclesiastical disputes, and conduct annual visitations. Before moving into the main discussion of this essay one needs to become acquainted with some of the individuals discussed in the main section and a small amount of history. During the period from 1621 to the treaty of Altmark, which gave Sweden control of all of Livonia, Samsonius enjoyed excellent relations with Swedish officials in Riga, particularly with governor Jacob De la Gardie (1583–1652), who later became governor general and head of the Swedish military operations in Livonia.17 With De la Gardie’s departure in 1628 and the appointment of Johan Skytte as the governor general of the new administrative province of Ingria, Karelia and Livonia in 1629, Samsonius would eventually enter a series of political and administrative struggles that would continue to 1643. 18 Analyses of his struggles form the core of 15 Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 7–9, is the first to note that the friendship between Samsonius and Oxenstierna may date to Rostock in 1600 rather than to Wittenberg. 16 For evidence given by Dobreff for this date rather than 23 August 1622, see Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 21, note iv. 17 A detailed treatment of the period 1621 to 1630 is in Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , in his introductory chapters and historical commentary to the correspondence. For Samsonius’s relations with De la Gardie, see epistles 1622-08-26, 1625-04-29, 1625-05-26, 1625-08-08, and 1625-09-10b (Samsonius) in particular. 18 Johan Skytte (1577–1645) was the former tutor of Gustavus Adolphus. His career was filled with diplomatic missions and high posts in the Swedish administration. Along with Oxenstierna, he was one of Gustavus Adolphus’s most trusted advisors. He was chancellor of Uppsala University from 1622. He founded Dorpat’s academic gymnasium and university ( Academia Gustaviana), where he was chancellor from 1632 to 1634. He was a confirmed Ramist and a brilliant Latinist. His term as the first general governor of Ingria, Karelia and Livonia (1629–1634) was the high point of his career. The death of Gustavus Adolphus in the confusion of battle at Lützen on 6 November 1632 literally cut the horses from Skytte’s wagon. In May of 1633,

public poses revealed

519

the important Swedish scholarship that was published between 1914 and 1968,19 while German-language scholarship, particularly from Riga natives, has traditionally been focused on Samsonius the churchman, champion of Lutheranism, teacher and author. 20 Swedish scholarship does not treat Samsonius as its subject in particular. He is treated because he was part of the new Swedish administration in what eventually became Swedish Livonia. 21 The rebuilding of the Lutheran church in Livonia was an important part of the Swedish administration. The complete devastation in the countryside made the task of rebuilding the administration and physically rebuilding the churches extremely complex, particularly since the rights and responsibilities of local nobility required that landlords finance the rebuilding of the churches. The fluctuations of the Swedish-Polish war expelled one set of nobility and introduced a new one, only to see the process repeated. This was the situation Samsonius encountered during his initial visitations. Practically the only common ground the Swedish and the Riga-based scholarship share is the name Hermannus Samsonius, though even here Swedish scholarship shows the form Hermann Samson occasionally.22 The Riga-based scholarship is in German and focuses primarily

he left his provinces without permission to return to Stockholm, clearly in an effort to protect his political base in the new minority government (Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 151). He never returned to Livonia, and was formally replaced by Bengt Bengtsson Oxenstierna in 1634 (A. Isberg, Livlands kyrkostyrelse 1622–1695: Reformsträvanden, åsiktsbrytningar och kompetenstvister i teori och praxis , Studia historico-ecclesiastica Upsaliensia (Uppsala 1968), 44). The deterioration of his relationship with Samsonius is a major theme in the Samsonius-to-Oxenstierna correspondence from 1631 to 1634. 19 The three that treat primary sources extensively are the most important: Isberg, Livlands kyrkostyrelse 1622–1695; R. Liljedahl, Svensk förvaltning I Livland 1617–1634 (Uppsala 1933); and Lundström, Bidrag till Livlands kyrkohistoria under den svenska tidens första skede. 20 Kleeberg, Die Polnische Gegenreformation in Livland; Hollmann, ‘Die Gegenreformation und die rigasche Domschule’, 279–293; Hollander, Geschichte der Domschule, des späteren Stadtgymnasiums zu Riga; A. Buchholtz, Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst in Riga: 1588–1888 (Riga 1890), 49–51; Berkholz, M. Hermann Samson: eine Kirchenhistorische Skizze. 21 In 1621 it was impossible for anyone to foresee that Sweden would eventually take control of all Livonia and incorporate it into the Swedish realm rather than trading it for the final settlement of the dispute over the Swedish Crown with Sigismund. 22 In the Riga-based scholarship, I include the new wave of scholarship, such as M. Klöker, Literarisches Leben in Reval in der ersten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts (1600– 1657) (2005); Viiding and Päll, ‘Die Glückwunschgedichte der Rigaer Gelehrten zur Inauguration der Dorpater Akademie’, in Humanistica Lovaniensia 53 (2004). A third

520

jim dobreff

on establishing a Samsonian biography. It can show strong tendencies toward hagiography at its worst; at its best, it provides extremely well documented treatments of a complex man living in a complex time. The Swedish school presents a carefully documented review of the primary sources related to the political and ecclesiastic administration in the early decades of Swedish administration in Livonia. Samsonius has suffered an unwarranted amount of criticism from Ragnar Liljedahl for the perceived lack of progress in the reconstitution of the Lutheran church in Livonia. 23 The post-Samsonius period, i.e. after his death in 1643, shows clearly that nearly all of the problems that Samsonius time and again pointed out as significant hinders to the reestablishment of the church in Livonia remained unsolved and continued to plague the Livonian consistory and, in particular, the rural churches of Livonia. 24 The recent first edition of the first nine years of his correspondence with Axel Oxenstierna has shed significant light on this complicated period. It shows that a well-known conflict between governor general Johan Skytte and superintendent Samsonius was more personal and more complex than previously thought. There is a distinct possibility that several important political decisions were made as much out of personal animosity and a desire for vengeance as they were for practical reasons. On 15 October in 1632 Johan Skytte, as governor general of Livonia, had the honor of delivering the keynote speech at the public inauguration of the second university in the Swedish kingdom, namely Academia Gustaviana (or, Dorpatensis) at Dorpat.25 In his lofty address, he spoke of ‘ill-willed people, who with their wicked hearts and poison-

movement, which treats Samsonius as part of a wider literary and theological community, is found in J. Krēsliņš, Dominus narrabit in scriptura populorum . 23 These issues are addressed throughout Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna; see introductory chapters and epistle 1630-03-20 (Samsonius), note 9. 24 For Samsonius’s detailed list of these hinders, see 1629-08-13 (Samsonius). Lundström, Liljedahl, and Isberg (the three most important Swedish works) are all critical of Samsonius’s performance as superintendent. Lundström, however, frequently praises him and openly admires Samsonius the man and theologian. Isberg holds a middle ground, assigning Samsonius some blame while also refuting (albeit in mild and rather oblique terms) a number of the criticisms leveled against Samsonius by Liljedahl. 25 Uppsala was the first. It was founded in 1477 and then closed in the early 16th century. It was only reopened in 1593. Its financial situation was greatly improved in the 1620’s, and a significant factor behind its improvement was Johan Skytte. He had been appointed by Gustavus Adolphus as university chancellor in 1622.

public poses revealed

521

ous tongues had slandered the new school both at home and abroad.’ 26 After announcing that the sons of poor peasants as well as those of burghers and noblemen would be allowed to attend the university and that those who conducted public affairs were responsible for the peasants not yet gaining access to high education, he added, ‘God grant it that the knighthood would understand this.’ It would not be unreasonable to assume that the ‘knighthood’ was also responsible for maligning this wonderful new institution abroad. It would seem that Skytte certainly did not have Samsonius in mind. Viiding and Päll’s truly informative publication of a collection of congratulatory poems from Riga intellectuals in honor of this inauguration, including one from Samsonius, 27 shows the new university’s intellectual brethren from neighboring Riga paying their due respects on this auspicious occasion. Nevertheless, Samsonius’s epistle from 1 February 1632 may provide some clues as to whom Skytte had in mind when he mentioned those ill-willed, poison-tongued individuals who had blacked the name of this nascent university abroad. 28 That letter makes me suspect that Samsonius may have penned his congratulatory poem with a deep sense of irony and that he probably listened to Skytte’s address with some apprehension. The letter from Samsonius to Oxenstierna of 1 February 1632 reveals that Samsonius had been corresponding with a Dr Cramerus, who is almost assuredly Dr Daniel Cramer. 29 He was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Logic in Wittenberg, and finally professor at the Paedagogium in Stettin. 30 Samsonius reports the following incident to Oxenstierna: There’s one matter that I can hardly pass over before I finish this letter. Dr Cramer and I correspond frequently. Since I’m stuck in that 26 K. Siilivask, History of Tartu University 1632–1982 (Tallinn 1985), 24; his summary of the comment. Liljedahl, commenting on Skytte’s address, is surprised that Skytte’s efforts to establish the school encountered some opposition; he does not make any connection to Samsonius, Svensk förvaltning i Livland 1617–1634 , 400–403. 27 Viiding and Päll, ‘Die Glückwunschgedichte der Rigaer Gelehrten zur Inauguration der Dorpater Akademie’, 310–313. 28 1632-02-01 (Samsonius). 29 Ibid. 30 From Krēsliņš’ biographical sketch, Dominus narrabit in scriptura populorum , 243. Georgius Mancelius and Andreas Virginius, the two leading Dorpat theologians both at the university and the consistory, had studied at Stettin. Mancelius studied first with Samsonius in Riga and then Cramer at Stettin, while the Samsonius letter strongly suggests that Virginius also studied with Cramer; ibid., 243, 248.

522

jim dobreff exacerbating case with the court at Dorpat and I got that sarcastic letter from that court, I wrote to Dr Cramer in the following manner. ‘I hear that some of your people are considering coming to Dorpat to take positions in their gymnasium. If they were considering Riga or Reval, I certainly wouldn’t dissuade them. But Dorpat is rather a bit too obscure. True, they’re making magnificent promises—let’s just hope their deeds correspond to their words!’ Dr Cramer showed my letter to an individual named Virginius who’s been invited [by Skytte personally to take a position in Dorpat]. En route from Germany to Dorpat, Virginius was grumbling angrily over his salary contract and blurted out the following: ‘Now I understand that everything Samsonius wrote to Cramer was true!’ Word of his comment literally flew to [Skytte]. Virginius was summoned to report what Samsonius had written. Officials were on hand who witnessed and signed all the documents, which were then sent to His Royal Majesty. Indeed, the King is being implored to force Cramer to hand over my correspondence. Such, of course, is the thanks a theologian enjoys here! The Jesuits themselves wouldn’t have done a single thing differently in handling me. But I’m not standing in the way; let Cramer give them my letters and let them be read.

Besides being a textbook example of Samsonius’s talent for narrative in Latin, this letter opens a wonderful can of worms. 31 The Swedish superintendent of churches in Livonia has been caught red-handed, maligning a project that was under the personal supervision of the governor general of Livonia, who was also one of the Swedish king’s most trusted officials. The use of witnesses and signed documents shows that Skytte intended to exploit this episode to the full. Here was an opportunity to take two birds with one stone. He would finally be rid of this recalcitrant superintendent who had the nerve to refuse to acknowledge the superior authority of the Court of Appeals which Skytte personally had established in Dorpat. An added pleasure for Skytte would be to see a client and friend of chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, Skytte’s chief rival, be publicly humiliated and forced out of the office of superintendent.

31 Samsonius’s opinion that the professors’ salaries were low at Dorpat turned out to be true, as Dorpat professors subsequently made frequent petitions to the Swedish administration in Livonia and to the Crown to either raise their salaries, grant them a peasant (in the feudal sense), or allow them to have a fisherman continuously on the river Emajôgi. They even requested that their widows subsequently be granted exemptions on brewing taxes; see Siilivask for details, History of Tartu University 1632–1982, 27–28.

public poses revealed

523

Yet none of this happened. None of the secondary sources I have read over the last four years has even mentioned this episode. 32 If the king had made an official inquiry and had subpoenaed the CramerSamsonius correspondence, it would have left traces somewhere— either in the Samsonius-Oxenstierna correspondence or in the National Archives in Sweden. Swedish scholars have examined Swedish records related to Livonia meticulously, yet no mention of this episode has been made. The king, most likely, did nothing, which is probably what chancellor Oxenstierna had advised. If we disregard Oxenstierna’s personal desire to save face by protecting his client and old friend from Wittenberg, we are left with a number of plausible reasons for not humiliating Samsonius publicly. Firstly, Samsonius had proven himself a valuable advisor in matters related to the Riga city council, as shown by the Samsonius-Oxenstierna correspondence and several comments from Skytte to the king. 33 To publicly humiliate Samsonius would mean losing a valuable informer and alienating a sizable portion of the burghers of Riga, who were all officially Lutherans. Besides being the Swedish superintendent, Samsonius was also the dean of St Peter’s in Riga, superintendent of churches in Riga, founder of the Riga academic gymnasium, long-time lector at the Cathedral School, the first and current professor of Theology at the gymnasium, and the most prolific author in Riga or Livonia. Oxenstierna, the masterful strategist and negotiator, surely understood this and made it clear to the king. That, I believe, is why we know nothing further of this episode, even though the king had been urged by Skytte, doubtlessly, to force Dr Cramer to turn over the Samsonian correspondence. A second reference in Skytte’s inaugural address may also have been aimed at Samsonius. If it were not aimed at him specifically, it was certainly aimed at the circle of Lutheran metaphysicians to which Samsonius belonged.34 In the address, Skytte specifically admonishes his 32 See bibliography in Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , for a complete list of sources. 33 ‘[Samsonius] sit optissimum instrumentum aliorumque latentes imposturas facile expiscari possit ([Samsonius] might be an excellent asset [in Riga] and might easily fish out the hidden opinions of others.’ So wrote Skytte to Gustavus Adolphus, 18 March 1630, Livonica Collection, Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archives); see also Liljedahl, Svensk förvaltning i Livland 1617–1634 , 382, and Lundström, Bidrag till Livlands kyrkohistoria under den svenska tidens första skede , 46. 34 Dobreff, Hermannus Samsonius to Axel Oxenstierna , 8–11 (especially 10, 11, and note xlviii on 11), is apparently the first to identify Samsonius as a Metaphysician from his studies and works at Rostock and Wittenberg, as well as his frequent

524

jim dobreff

audience to beware the Metaphysical speculations prevailing at many universities in Western Europe. 35 Skytte was a confirmed Ramist and wanted his new university to avoid entangling young students in the labyrinths of Aristotelian theories. He even added a clause to the university’s constitution, stipulating that the professor of Logic was to teach Ramist philosophy. 36 It is not clear whether this was a direct jab at Samsonius or at the Wittenberg Metaphysicians, whose numbers included Andreas Virginius (not to be confused with Adrian Verginius or Virginius, adjunct on the Theology Faculty) and Samsonius. Oddly 37 Nevertheenough, Virginius was personally recruited by Skytte. less, the ideological clash between the Ramists and Aristotelians adds another layer to the conflict between Skytte and Samsonius. Furthermore, it is another layer that stems from a sphere outside of Samsonius’s administration of the church in Livonia. A letter from Samsonius to Oxenstierna dated 4 October 1632, just prior to the inauguration in Dorpat, shows that relations between Samsonius and Skytte had continued to deteriorate and that these two officials were completely at odds.38 It shows that Samsonius had effectively appealed to Oxenstierna to intercede and that Oxenstierna had done so on several matters. Among these, Oxenstierna forced the payment of Samsonius’s salary. For five years, Samsonius had not been paid by the Swedish administration. Despite numerous requests, Skytte refused to order payment. 39 At last, in the epistle just cited, we learn that Oxenstierna has sent an order for payment to the Riga paycorrespondence with Daniel Cramer. While I consider the evidence quite strong, the topic of Samsonius Metaphysicus requires further investigation. One piece of such evidence is Samsonius’s proud statement to Oxenstierna in epistle 1637-05-02 (Samsonius) that, among other topics, his two sons had already learned metaphysics with him at the Riga gymnasium. 35 For Skytte’s speech, see Siilivask, History of Tartu University 1632–1982 , 24; for metaphysics in this area and period, see Krēsliņš, Dominus narrabit in scriptura populorum, which treats the wave of metaphysics sweeping Lutheran universities in this period, 279 (Index). 36 Siilivask, History of Tartu University 1632–1982 , 56–57. 37 Skytte’s stipulation was ignored by Virginius, who ended up in an open conflict with Johannes Erici Stregnensis, professor of Physics. Virginius, according to Johannes Erici, refused to allow any criticism of Aristotle; ibid., 56–57. 38 1632-10-04 (Samsonius). 39 See epistle 1632-02-07 and particularly 1632-05-16, where Samsonius reports that when he asked Skytte to order payment of his salary, now five years in arrears, Skytte responded by turning the whole thing into a joke and embarrassing Samsonius by saying, ‘Why didn’t your great patron the field marshal help you? Whatever accrues during my governorship, I’ll see that it’s paid—the rest is not my concern in the least.’

public poses revealed

525

master via burgomaster Johann Ulrich, Samsonius’s personal friend (he often delivered letters and verbal reports from Samsonius to Oxenstierna). Full payment was made immediately. Next, the letter reports that Skytte had appointed provincial judges throughout Livonia and given them authority to hear cases that should lawfully be heard by Samsonius. Samsonius reports that he wrote to Skytte and stated that the duties of magistrates should not be at odds and that if the provincial judges are allowed to treat these matters, then it would be better to abolish the office of superintendent. Skytte is said to have responded that the superintendent should restrict himself to matters of the conscience. Samsonius reported that he had sent Skytte a copy of the royal mandate that describes the authority of his office and a letter in which he lists six points supported by the mandate. These points, according to Samsonius, show that the provincial judges were in violation of his mandate. Eleven days later Skytte delivered the inaugural address, officially opening Academia Gustaviana on 15 October 1632. Gustavus Adolphus is killed near Lützen on 6 November 1632. On 18 November 1632, Skytte writes to the king, explaining that as long as current individuals continue to administer church affairs, the deplorable condition of the church will never improve. He requests the king’s permission to establish a Consistorium Ecclesiasticum with both laymen and churchmen as assessors and with a politician as president ( praeses politicus). This is needed, he argues, because the church is in a horrible state, in fact ‘burghers, tenant farmers and copyists are being made pastors’ (att man Borgare, Arrendator och Copijster sätter till Präster ). Lastly, he offers to write up a constitution and a set of by-laws for this new consistory, before signing off, ‘Dorpat, 18 November 1632.’40 The official instructions for the consistory and its visitation authority are dated 18 February 1633. As proposed, the director is a praeses politicus. There are six assessors, including three pastors and three laymen. The director is the official leader of the consistory. The superintendent is to assist him, but has no specific authority.41 Oddly enough, Samsonius and the other members of the consistory seem not to have He is referring to field marshal Jacob De la Gardie, who had good relations with Samsonius. 40 Lundström, Bidrag till Livlands kyrkohistoria under den svenska tidens första skede, 236–237, where the Swedish original has been edited. 41 Isberg, Livlands kyrkostyrelse 1622–1695, 36–38.

526

jim dobreff

been fully informed by early June. In a letter of 1633-06-06 to Oxenstierna, Samsonius announces, [. . .] non possum Vestram Illustritatem celare Illustrem Generalem Dominum Iohannem Skÿtte Consistorium in Livonia constituisse, vel potius sub extremum sui discessus in Sueciam tempus praecipitasse. Omnia enim apud assessores in suspenso relicta sunt: numerus assessorum, salarium, et reliquae leges. Sicut vero hactenus auctoritatem mei officii subruere et labefactare studuit, ita multo magis Consistorii velamento id fecit, ita ut sæpe me paenituerit, provinciam Superintendentis suscepisse et sustinuisse. I cannot keep the fact from Your Illustriousness that the Illustrious General Johan Skytte has established a consistory in Livonia—well, perhaps more like, has rushed to establish it in the last minute prior to his departure for Sweden. Everything has been left unresolved in the hands of the assessors, such as the number of assessors, salaries and other by-laws. Just as he has thus far sought to undermine and destabilize the authority of my office, he has even more done so under the cover of the consistory, so that I have often regretted to have accepted and endured this task of Superintendent.42

If Skytte’s intention was malicious rather than constructive, then it was completely successful. The superintendent and the consistory would be at odds until the death of Samsonius. It is one of the most common themes in the correspondence from 1633 to 1643. Nothing about the consistory pleases Samsonius. It usurps his authority. It gives him too little authority. The layman director knows nothing of church matters. It is located in Dorpat for no good reason; Riga would be a much better location. And so the complaints continue. They are rarely the main theme of an epistle; but if Samsonius writes to Oxenstierna, he uses the letter to add a few complaints about the consistory in Dorpat. The first suggestion that Skytte heard about the need to establish a consistory in Dorpat came from Samsonius, though he made no mention of a praeses politicus. In a letter of 16 October 1631, Samsonius tells Oxenstierna that after a squabble with Skytte over the authority of the new Court of Appeals in Dorpat, he suggested that Skytte establish a consistory; anyone with matrimonial issues or complaints about how they were treated by the superintendent could appeal from

42

1633-06-06 (Samsonius).

public poses revealed

527

Samsonius to the consistory. 43 Samsonius would only have an honorary position. Skytte, according to Samsonius in the same letter, hated the proposal, fearing that it would detract from the authority of the Court of Appeals. The entire sequence of events is odd and rife with ulterior motives from both sides. Gustavus Adolphus was killed on 6 November outside of Lützen. Johan Skytte, one of his closest advisors and governor general of an extensive province, still had not learned of his death by 18 November. Samsonius, however, had yet to hear about it on 12 December; in his letter to Oxenstierna from that day he actually says that he has heard good news about the king’s success at ‘Weissenfels’! He first acknowledges the death in a letter to Oxenstierna on 27 December (1632-12-27). Skytte’s letter to the king makes it clear that he perceived Samsonius as a hinder to be surmounted and that a consistory would indeed be the best means to do so. Scholarship, particularly from Swedish scholars, has shed considerable light on the official side of the development of the conflict between Samsonius and Skytte. Even when they have treated Samsonius more generously, such as in Lundström, their focus has been primarily on the development of policy and institutions in the Swedish administration. This essay attempts to introduce the Samsonius-Skytte conflict to a wider audience and to expand the focus of the debate. This wider focus encompasses personal and philosophical issues by, for the first time, connecting the recently published correspondence to a pair of remarks in Skytte’s inaugural address in honor of Academia Gustaviana. What Skytte had achieved by subordinating the Livonian superintendent first to the Court of Appeals in Dorpat and then to the consistory with a layman president was exactly what Gustavus Adolphus and Skytte had proposed for Sweden in 1619 and 1623. 44 The Swedish bishops and archbishop rejected the proposal, politely refusing to submit the church and its leaders to the authority of the Crown. 45 When Skytte returned to Sweden, he participated in the Regents’ attempt to create a consistory with six laymen and six churchmen. The proposal 43 1631-10-16 (Samsonius). Since this report comes from Samsonius, Skytte may simply have not wanted to let Samsonius know what he planned for the future. 44 Krēsliņš provides a concise and accurate description in English of Skytte and the failed consistorial reforms attempted in Sweden, Dominus narrabit in scriptura populorum, 151. I. Montgomery, Sveriges kyrkohistoria. 4: Enhetskyrkans tid, Sveriges kyrkohistoria (Stockholm 2002), 72–74. 45 Ibid.

528

jim dobreff

was put forward at the Swedish parliament in conjunction with the burial of Gustavus Adolphus in 1634. All the bishops and superintendents from mainland Sweden and Finland participated in the subsequent debate. They not only refused to submit to such a consistory, they proposed in turn that a consistory of only churchmen should be established.46 The events in Sweden prior to and after the Skytte-Samsonius conflict show that the question of whether or not the church would be subject to the Swedish Crown was hardly unique to Livonia or Samsonius and Skytte. It was a hot issue in Sweden. What is interesting, however, is that the Samsonian correspondence enriches the entire discussion by introducing the personal issues of hatred and vengeance. Furthermore, a reading of the correspondence exemplifies the stark contrast between public images and private views. Publicly, Samsonius provided a congratulatory poem as part of the public celebrations at the inauguration of Skytte’s new university in Dorpat. Privately, he had been maligning the new institution in letters to a prominent colleague in Wittenberg. Privately in a letter to Oxenstierna, some years after Skytte’s departure, he dared to made his feelings about Skytte and Dorpat perfectly clear: Fuit quidam, qui Regia Maiestate vivente donationem civitatis Dorpatensis, et quicquid ad eam pertinet, spe devoraverat, ideo omne decus Livoniæ eò transtulit: Academiam ibi extruxit: Iudicium Regium ibi fundavit: Consistorium ibi erexit: Dunam Rigam præterfluentem cum omni negotione eò transferre voluit, si per naturam licuisset. Misera est civitas, et maxima ibi omnium rerum caritas. 47 There was a certain man, who, while the king was still alive, eagerly accepted the citizenship of the city of Dorpat and all that went with it. And thus he transferred the glory of Livonia there. He built a university there. He established a Crown Court there. He set up a consistory there. Indeed, had Nature permitted it, he would have wanted to transfer the Daugava River, which now flows past Riga, along with all its commerce to that place. It’s a wretched community suffering from a want of everything.

He added that paragraph as a postscript to the letter, which did not treat Skytte directly. It is as if he was suddenly struck by a surge of hatred for Skytte and Dorpat, and could not restrain his pen from 46 47

Ibid. 1637-05-02 (Samsonius).

public poses revealed

529

putting words to his emotion. Concisely and with typical Samsonian rhetoric he has represented years of conflict with Skytte in a few elegant lines. Epilogue Skytte’s establishment of the university in Dorpat is a testimony to his brilliance and humanity. Rather than letting the German residents of Livonia continue their domination of higher education in Livonia and thereby of Livonia itself, Skytte boldly and bravely opened his new 48 This university to the sons of lowly peasants and other outsiders. 49 essay in no way detracts from his accomplishment.

48 J. Krēsliņš rightly emphasizes that Skytte’s efforts to aid the disenfranchised peasants were also intended to create an estate that could check the power of the nobility to some extent, Dominus narrabit in scriptura populorum , 156. 49 My primary interest is Latin and determining what was written and what it means. This essay was intended to stimulate interest in the current and future publications of the correspondence of Hermannus Samsonius. Anyone who has questions or would like to work with Samsonius is urged to contact me directly.

INDEX NOMINUM Acidalius, Valens, 354–355, 360 Adam, Melchior, 166 Adrian VI, Pope, 60–61, 64 Aerssens, Cornelis, 332, 334, 344, 349 Agamemnon, 303 Ailly, Pierre d’ (de Alliaco), 143 Albada, Aggaeus van, 289 Albert, Duke of Prussia, 115, 124–125, 206–208 Albertus Magnus, 41 Albornoz, Juan de, 237–238, 240–244, 261 Alciato, Andrea, 14, 53 Aleandro, Girolamo, 61, 80 Alesius, Alexander, 143 Almeloveen, Theodorus Janson ab, 393 Althusius, Johannes, 412, 423 Alvarez de Toledo, Fernando, Duke of Alva, 225, 236–245, 259–261, 308, 347 Ambrose, 303 Andreae, Johann Valentin, 411, 418–419, 421–422 Andrewes, Lancelot, 436–439, 441–442, 460–461 Antonio of Portugal, 230–231 Apuleius, 358, 364 Aquinas, Thomas, 41 Arande, Michel d’, 18 Arator, 50 Arias Montano, Benito, 223–224, 231, 233–262, 329, 392 Aristophanes, 59, 195–196 Armagnac, Georges d’, 80 Arminius, Jacobus, 375, 420, 434, 446–449, 456, 461, 465, 467 Arndt, Johann, 411–412, 415–416, 418–419, 421 Arnisaeus, Henning, 412 Arnoldus, Henricus, 431 Athenaeus, 396 Aubray, Claude d’, 186, 194 Augustine, 12, 21, 23–26, 29, 31, 34, 40, 47, 143, 303, 452, 488 mother Monica, 26, 31 Augustodunensis, Honorius, 143 Augustus, Duke of Saxony, 311 Aulus Gellius, 364, 370 Aurelius, Cornelius, 39–42 Austria, Albert of, Archduke, 368

Austria, Juan of, 250, 312 Autels, Guillaume des, 195 Bade, Josse, 5, 45 Baers, Adolphus, 137–138 Baers, Henricus, 133, 140 Baïf, Jean-Antione de, 150 Bailly, David, 468 Baius, Michael (de Bay), 266–267, 273–274, 276 Balcanquall, Walter, 437 Bale, John, 103 Bancroft, Richard, 328 Barlaeus, Caspar, 35, 382, 481 Baronio, Cesare, 343, 360, 362, 385, 395 Barrefelt, Hendrik Jansen, 223, 300, 329 Basil the Great, 12, 104 Báthory, Stephan, King of Poland, 175 Batmanson, John, 95, 108 Battus, Jacobus, 43–44 Baudius, Dominicus (Baudier), 200–201, 373, 393, 454 Baudouin, François, 133, 136, 155–156 Bavaria, Ernest of, Prince Bishop of Liège, 317, 335, 339 Bebel, Heinrich, 5 Becius, Joannes, 486 Beda, Natalis, 52 Bellarmine, Robert, 343–344, 421 Bellay, Jean du, 70, 84, 86–87, 89–90 Bellay, Joachim du, 74, 149–150 Bembo, Pietro, 149 Benci, Francesco, 334, 342–344 Bergen, Hendrik van, 42, 44 Berghes, Guillaume de, 223 Bernegger, Matthias, 495 Berthelet, Thomas, 100–101, 103 Bertius, Petrus, 127, 450, 459, 464, 467 Bertolphus, Hilarius, 80 Besold, Christoph, 392, 398, 409–426 Béthune, Maximilien de, Duke of Sully, 191 Beza, Theodore, 164, 166, 168–170, 172–173, 175, 178, 181, 183–184, 267, 271, 298, 397 Biandrata, Giorgio, 174, 179 Biel, Gabriel, 143 Birckmann, Arnold, 137, 143 Blaurer, Ambrosius, 123

532

index nominum

Blotius, Hugo, 353, 363–364 Blount, William, Lord Mountjoy, 42 Bodin, Jean, 412, 419 Boetzelaar, Gedeon van den, 270, 276, 452, 464 Boissard, Robert, 54 Bomberghen, Karel and Cornelis Van, 224–225 Bongars, Jacques, 358, 361 Boomgaert, Cornelis, 291 Bor, Pieter Christiaensz, 292 Borromeo, Federico, 366 Borsselen, Anna van, 43–44 Botzheim, Johannes von, 41 Bouchard, Amaury, 74, 77, 89 Bouchet, Jean, 70, 73, 89 Boulliau, Ismael, 501, 503, 508 Bourbon, Henry II of, Prince of Condé, 212, 498–499, 504 Bourbon, Nicolas, 149–150 Boxhorn, Marcus Zuerius, 421 Brachet de La Milletière, Theophile, 494 Brasch, Martin, 515 Brederode, Pieter van, 462 Brenz, Johannes, 113 Breverus, Johannes, 515 Briçonnet, Guillaume, 17–34 brother Denis, 27 Bruno, Giordano, 354–355, 359 Bruto, Giovanni Michele, 161 Buchanan, George, 149–150, 152, 160 Buchelius, Arnoldus, 324 Budé, Guillaume, 53, 72–75, 80–81, 88–89, 99, 102, 108 Bugenhagen, Johannes, 114–116, 118 Bull, Thomas, 437 wife Anthonia van den Corput, 437 Burgundy, Philip of, 50, 274 Buys, Paulus, 320, 324–325 Buytewech, Gerardus, 270 Caesar, 135, 277 Caffarelus, Ascanius, 241 Caietanus, Thomas, 143 Calvin, Jean, 145, 267, 300, 480, 482 Camerarius, Joachim, Jr, 164, 358 Camerarius, Joachim, Sr, 109, 124, 164, 309, 474 Campegio, Lorenzo, 50 Campis, Johannes a, 339 Canaye de Fresne, Philip, 395–396, 398 Canterus, Theodorus, 276, 344–345, 349 Cantiuncula, Claudius, 53 Carleton, George, 437

Carondelet, Jacques de, 339 Carrio, Ludovicus, 312 Casas, Bartolomé de las, 229 Casaubon, Isaac, 198, 358, 367, 372–373, 375–377, 379–382, 389–400, 450, 452, 454–455, 457–458, 461–464, 493 son Meric, 393 Cassander, Georgius, 127–147 Castellion, Sebastian, 149 Castro, León de, 260 Cecil, William, 156–157, 160, 320 son Thomas, 320–321 wife Mildred Cooke, 104, 157 Cedrenus, 434 Celtis, Konrad, 5 Ceratinus, Johannes, 113 Cerda, Juan de la, Duke of Medinaceli, 259 Cervaes, Matthias, 138–139 Charles I, King of England, 214 Charles V, Emperor, 36, 50–51, 59, 63, 67, 115, 210, 251, 413 Chasteigner de La Roche-Posay, Louis, 380, 395 son Henri Louis, 385 Châtillon, Odet de, Cardinal, 88, 90 Cheke, John, 104 Chemnitz, Martin, 114–116 Chrestien, Florent, 194–198 Christina, Queen of Sweden, 494, 498 Christopherson, John, 104 Chrysostom, John, 104, 395 Chytraeus, Nathan, 358 Cicero, 7–8, 12, 44, 81, 83–84, 161, 164, 203, 267, 327, 424–425 Cingularius, Johannes, 121 Clarke Basset, Mary, 93, 103–108 husband Stephen Clarke, 103 husband James Basset, 105 Clement VII, Pope, 50–51 Clement VIII, Pope, 255, 355 Clusius, Carolus, 334, 359 Coemans, Jacobus (Horstius), 132 Colerus, Christopher, 360 Collinus, Matthäus, 124 Colom, Jacob Aertsz, 285–286, 288–289 Colomesius, Paulus (Colomiès), 370, 393, 430 Colterman, David, 464 Contzen, Adam, 420–421 Cooke, Mildred, see Cecil Coolhaes, Caspar, 296, 314 Coornhert, Dirck Volckertsz, 269, 281–301, 327–328, 332, 337

index nominum brother Frans, 291 nephew Artus van Brederode, 292 niece Catheline van Brederode, 292 wife Neeltgen Symons, 283, 294 Copernicus, Nicolaus, 180, 207–208 Cordes, Jean de, 127 Costerus, Franciscus, 333 Cotton, Robert, 441 Cracoviensis, Matthaeus, 143 Cramer, Daniel, 516, 521–524 Cranevelt, Franciscus, 53, 55–58, 60–62, 65, 67 Crato von Krafftheim, Johannes, 109, 164, 180, 182, 359 Crayesteyn, Boudewijn Adriaan van, 210 Crocus, Cornelius, 209–210 Croÿ, Charles Philip of, 339 Croÿ, Guillaume de, 58 Cujas, Jacques, 190 Cunaeus, Petrus, 450, 453, 464 Cusa, Nicolaus de, 143 Cuyckius, Henricus, 340–344 Cyprian, 12, 104 Dallier, Joachim, 152 Damascenus, Johannes, 434 Danaeus, Lambertus, 268, 285, 315 Davenant, John, 437 Dávid, Ferenc, 174, 179 Decius, Ludwig, 208 Dedeken, Georg, 418 De la Gardie, Jacob, 518, 525 Delrio, Martinus Antonius, 312, 324, 333, 335, 339–341 Democritus, 81 Demosthenes, 82 Denaisius, Petrus, 373 Desbois, Engelbert, 214 Dijck, Anthonie van, 428 Diomedes Grammaticus, 358 Dionysius Halicarnassus, 164 Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite, 18, 24, 20, 32 Dircksz, Hendrick, 210 Dodonaeus, Rembertus, 242–243 Dominis, Marcantonio de, 438, 450, 464 Donellus, Hugo, 268–269, 324–325 Dorat, Jean, 149, 155–156, 160, 164, 195–196 Dorpius, Martinus, 35, 46–47, 94–95, 104, 108 Dousa, Janus, Jr, 345–346

533

Dousa, Janus, Sr, 229, 268, 272–273, 276, 307, 312–315, 319, 324, 332, 334–338, 344, 346–347, 349 Dubrav, Roderich, 5, 7 Dudith Sbardellatus, Andreas, 161–184, 355, 359 uncle Augustinus Sbardellatus, 162 Dudley, Robert, Earl of Leicester, 271, 321, 325 Dürer, Albrecht, 36, 110 Duifhuis, Hubert, 285 Duivenvoorde, Johan van, 485–486 Du Moulin, Pierre, 452, 456, 493 Du Perron, Jacques-Davy, 392, 394 Du Plessis-Mornay, Philippe, 191, 198, 229, 394 wife Charlotte Arbaleste, 191 Dupuy, Claude, 199, 390 Dupuy, Jacques, 502, 506–507 Durant, Guillaume, 143 Dury, John, 494 Echtius, Johannes (Bachoven von Echt), 134 Edward VI, King of England, 105, 375 Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 103, 154, 156, 270–271, 319–321, 348 Ellinger, Andreas, 310–311 Elmenhorst, Geverhard, 464, 480 Elyot, Thomas, 104 Emser, Hieronymus, 113 Ennius, 82–83, 337 Epictetus, 354 Épinac, Pierre d’, 187 Episcopius, Simon, 452, 464, 476 Episcopus, Petrus, 143 Erasmus, Desiderius, 5–12, 14, 19, 35–52, 55, 59, 71, 73, 79–82, 88–89, 93–95, 97–102, 108, 111, 113–114, 131, 143, 147, 149, 159, 199, 266, 337, 345, 377, 409–410, 423, 452, 483 Erastus, Thomas, 164, 179 Erici Stregnensis, Johannes, 524 Espence, Claude d’, 133 Estissac, Geoffroy d’, 74, 78, 85–86, 89–90 Eusebius, 105, 108 Faber, Petrus (Fabri), 71, 390 Fabius, Cornelius, 289, 291 Fabri de Peiresc, Nicolas Claude, 370 Farel, Guillaume, 18 Farnese, Alexander, Duke of Parma, 221, 253, 266, 274–275, 312, 316

534

index nominum

Ferdinand I, Emperor, 50–51, 132–133, 135–136, 164 Ferdinand II, Emperor, 413 Fevijn, Jan van, 67 Foix, Paul de, 154–155, 157, 159 Forster, Johannes, 114 Four, Henri de, 7 Francis I, King of France, 17–18, 33, 50–51, 59, 63 Francken, Christian, 360 Frederick III, Elector Palatine, 176 Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, 462 Froben, Johann, 11 Fröschel, Sebastian, 114 Galenus, 75–76 Galle, Philip, 231 Galle, Theodore, 303–305 Gardiner, Stephen, 105 Gelous, Sigismund, 118 Gentile, Giovanni Valentino, 171–172 George, Duke of Saxony, 112–113 Gerhard, Johann, 418–419, 422 Gerson, Jean, 143 Gessner, Salomon, 515 Gevartius, Johannes Casperius, 464 Gigli, Sylvester, 50 Gilbert, Martin, 117, 119 Giphanius, Obertus, 356, 365 Giselinus, Victor, 313 Glossenus, Nicolaus, 124 Gnapheus, Guilielmus (De Volder), 206–209 Goldast, Melchior, 311 Goldstein, Kilian, 117 Golzius, Hendrik, 282 Gomarus, Franciscus, 375, 431, 434, 447, 449, 456, 464–465, 467, 486 wife Maria l’Hermite, 486 sister-in-law Johanna l’Hermite, 432, 486 Gonnell, William, 103 Goropius Becanus, Johannes, 225, 243 Goulart, Simon, 388 Graevius, Johannes Georgius, 393 Granvelle, Antoine Perenot de, 260–261 Grimani, Domenico, 46, 50 Gronovius, Johannes Fredericus, 393 Grotius, Hugo, 147, 212–214, 370, 373, 431–432, 435, 437–441, 443–464, 466, 469–470, 472–473, 476–483, 487–489, 491, 493–495, 497–507, 509, 512 brother Willem, 430, 436–439, 451, 453, 464, 499, 504–505

uncle Cornelis, 291, 298 wife Maria van Reigersberch, 450, 464, 507 Gruitroede, Jacobus, 101 Gruterus, Janus, 355, 363, 441 Grynaeus, Simon, 120 Grynaeus, Theophilus, 119–121 father Thomas, 120–121 Gryphius, Sebastian, 74, 76 Grzepski, Stanisław, 174 Gualterus, Rodolphus, 271 Guilielmus, Janus, 358 Gunst, Pieter van, 391 Gustavus Adolphus II, King of Sweden, 514, 516–518, 520, 522–523, 525, 527–528 Hafenreffer, Matthias, 416 Hagecius, Thaddaeus (Hájek), 179, 182 Hall, Joseph, 436–437 Hardesheim, Christoph, 181 Hauchin, Jean, 323 Heemskerck, Maarten van, 283 Heiderich, Wolf, 114 Heinsius, Daniel, 127, 214, 365, 373, 379, 389, 445, 449, 453, 464, 498 Henry II, Duke of Rohan, 425 Henry II, King of France, 70, 79, 150, 263 son Louis d’Orléans, 70, 86 wife Catherine de’ Medici, 263, 273 Henry IV, King of France (of Navarra), 186, 194, 198, 213, 353, 375, 381, 390, 395, 398, 457 Henry VIII, King of England, 46, 50–51, 63–64, 67, 96–97, 214 grandmother Margaret Beaufort, 100–101 wife Catherine of Aragon, 65–66, 97 wife Anne Boleyn, 97 Hercules-François, Duke of Anjou, 226, 263, 270–271, 273 Hermans, Willem, 41 Hervet, Gentian, 101 Heshuss, Tilemann, 309, 347 Hessels, Johannes, 130 Heteren, Willem van, 211 Hetzer, Lucas, 114 Heyen, Bertha de, 41 Hincmarus, Bishop of Laon, 144 Hincmarus, Archbishop of Reims, 143 Hippocrates, 76 Hoë von Hoënegg, Matthias, 418 Hoffler, Johannes, 117 Holbein, Hans, 99 Hollar, Wenceslaus, 428

index nominum Homer, 79, 82 Hondius, Hendrik, 37, 264 Honerdius, Rochus (van den Honert), 214, 484–486 Hooft, Pieter Cornelisz, 464 Hopperus, Joachim, 133, 259 Horace, 82–83, 196, 203 Hotman, Jean, 450, 464 Hout, Jan van, 268, 276, 315, 332, 334, 335–338, 344, 349 Houwaert, Jan-Baptist, 229 Howard, Thomas (Arundel), 429–430, 441–442 wife Aletheia Talbot, 434, 442 Hullot, Antoine, 90 Hunnius, Aegidius, 515 Hütter, Leonhard, 515 Hutten, Ulrich von, 99, 108 Huygens, Christiaan, 464 Huygens, Constantijn, 214 Hyrde, Richard, 100, 102–103 Ischyrius, Christianus, 212 Iuvencus, 50 James I, King of England, 396, 457–461, 467, 493 Janssen van Barrefelt, see Barrefelt Jeannin, Pierre, 213 Jerin, Andreas, 354–355, 359 Jerome, 12, 40–42, 44, 46, 94–96, 143 Johann Friedrich I, Elector of Saxony, 117, 425 Johann Kasimir, Count Palatine, 167 Johann Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxony, 310–312 wife Dorothea-Susanna, 310 son Friederich, 310 Jonas, Justus, Jr, 117 Jonghelinck, Jacques, 238 Jordan, Thomas, 169, 179, 181, 183 Joris, David, 284, 298–299 Junius, Franciscus, Jr, 427–442 cousin Jean Du Jon, 435 father Franciscus, Sr (Du Jon), 427, 431, 486 sister Maria, 437 Junius, Hadrianus, 52, 375 Karl, Prince of Liechtenstein, 360 Károlyi, Péter, 174 Keerberghen, Jan van, 223 Kempis, Thomas a, 101 Kepler, Johannes, 359, 411, 415–419, 422–423

535

Ketteler, Wilhelm von, 132, 144 Koenerding, Johann Andreas, 474–476, 481 Kromer, Martin, 174 Krowicki, Martin, 116–117 Laan, Adolf van der, 305–306 Laen, Nicolaes van der, 289, 299 Laet, Johan de, 505 La Faye, Geoffroy de, 191 Lampsonius, Dominicus, 335, 339 Lamy, Pierre, 72–73 Languetus, Hubertus, 164 La Tour d’Auvergne, Henri de, 435 Laud, William, 440–442, 494 Laurimanus, Cornelius, 210–211 Lauterwald, Matthias, 118–119 Lazitius, Johannes (Lasicki), 175, 181 Lazius, Wolfgang, 140 Lee, Edward, 94–95, 101, 108 Leemput, Adam, 333 Leeuw, Jan de, 374 Leeuwius, Theodorus, 303, 317, 319, 325–326, 329, 349 Lefèvre d’Étaples, Jacques, 18, 20 Lefèvre, Nicolas, 191, 193 Leo X, Pope, 33, 35, 46–47 Lernutius, Janus, 313 Lessius, Leonardus, 340 Leyen, Johannes VI von der, 132 Leyser, Polykarp, 418 Liljedahl, Ragnar, 520–521 Lindanus, Gulielmus, 130, 260 Lingelsheim, Georg Michael, 182, 450, 455, 458–459, 461–462, 464, 495 Lipsius, Justus, 5, 163–164, 184, 221, 229, 242, 268–270, 276–281, 284, 289, 291, 303–349, 352–358, 361–366, 371, 373, 378–379, 383, 401, 411, 425, 450 wife Anna vanden Calstere, 309, 311, 338 Livineius, Joannes (Lievens), 342, 396 Livy, 277 Lobelius, Matthias, 229 Loisel, Antoine, 191 Longland, John, 62 Lorraine, Charles de, Cardinal de Guise, 86–87, 190 Lorraine, Charles de, Duke of Mayenne, 186 Lubbertus, Sibrandus, 447, 455, 470 Lubinus, Eilhard (Lübbens), 515 Lucian, 93 Lucretius, 203

536

index nominum

Luther, Martin, 6, 55, 57–58, 95–96, 98, 117, 415, 420, 516 Lydius, Martinus, 387–388, 392 Macrin, Jean Salmon, 149 Macropedius, Georgius, 207, 209, 211–212 Maior, Georg, 114 Manardi, Giovanni, 75, 77 Mancelius, Georgius, 521 Manilius, Maximilianus, 365 Manrique, Alfonso, 67–68 Manrique, Luis, 241 Manrique, Rafael, 241 Manutius, Aldus, 45 Manutius, Paulus, 164, 168 Marbach, Johannes, 122 Marcile, Théodore, 199–200 Marck, Anthony de la, 50 Marck, Erard de la, 50 Marck, Guillaume de La, 283 Mariana, Juan, 423 Marle, Christophe Hector de, 191 Marliani, Bartolemo, 84–85 Marnix of St Aldegond, Philip van, 263–280, 321, 344 brother Jean, 267 son Jacob, 268–269 Martini, Cornelius, 515 Martini, Jacob, 515 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, 319 Mary Tudor, Queen of England, 103, 105–108 Masius, Andreas, 134 Matenesse, Johan van, 476 Mathesius, Johannes, 116 Matthias, Archduke of Austria, 226 Maurier, Benjamin Aubéry du, 455, 464 Maximilian II, Emperor, 131–133, 136, 164, 168, 309 Mazarin, Jules, 498 Meinser, Balthasar, 418 Melanchthon, Philip, 109–126, 311, 512 Melander, Otto, 360 Mendoza, Iñigo de, 67 Menius, Justus, 121–122 son August, 121–122 son Eusebius, 121–122 Mercurialis, Hieronymus, 324 Merula, Paullus, 368 Mersenne, Marin, 495 Metellus, Johannes (Matal), 131–133, 164

Meursius, Johannes, 450, 453, 464 Mierop, Cornelis van, 211 Miraeus, Aubertus, 308 Modrzewski, Andrzej Frycz (Modrevius), 177 Mörlin, Joachim, 115–116 Molanus, Lucas, 474–476 Molina, Luis, 421 Molinaeus, Johannes, 141–142 Moller, Laurenz, 124 Monavius, Jacobus, 355, 359 Monavius, Petrus, 182 Monluc, Jean, 400 Montaigne, Michel de, 69, 82 Montfoort, Dirck van, 283, 291–299 son Johannes, 296 More, Thomas, 93–98, 103, 105–108 son John, 99, 108 Morel, Jean de, 149–156, 159 daughter Camille, 150–153, 155, 157 son Isaac, 150–156, 158 wife Antoinette de Loynes, 149, 152 Moretus, Johannes I, 221–223, 226, 231, 254, 331, 334–335, 342, 345, 358 son Balthasar, 365 son Melchior, 341 Morillon, Maximilian, 260–261 Moritz, Duke of Saxony, 114 Mosellanus, Petrus, 112–113, 390 Muretus, Marcus Antonius, 6, 12–13, 164 Muysenhol, Abraham, 432 Myle, Abraham van der, 464 Myllner, Jan, 354 Myszkowski, Piotr, 168 Nádasdy, Thomas, 124 Nansius, Franciscus, 242 Nassau, Maurice of, 314, 316, 324, 435, 448, 453 Navarre, Marguerite de, 17–34, 103 husband Charles d’Alençon, 18, 27 Negri, Francesco, 5 Nepos, Cornelius, 356 Neuser, Adam, 176 Niclaes, Hendrik, 284, 300 Nieveen, Maarten, 209 Núñez Pérez, Francisco, 252 Ochino, Bernardino, 171–172 Oldenbarnevelt, Johan van, 213, 435, 446, 448, 456, 458, 460–461, 464–465, 467, 470, 482 Oppianus, 356

index nominum Orange, William of, 219, 229, 263, 271, 275–276, 293, 295, 316–317, 348 wife Charlotte de Bourbon, 219 Oranus, Johannes, 333, 335, 339 brother Petrus, 339 Origen, 104, 139 Ortelius, Abraham, 164, 231, 242, 273, 291, 312, 341, 345, 355 Osiander, Andreas, 115–116, 172 Othon, Jean, 149, 157, 160 daughter Jeanne, 157 Oudaert, Nicolaas, 323–324, 340 Oultremannus, Henricus d’, 303 Ovando, Juan de, 238–239 Overall, John, 450, 461–462, 464 Oxenstierna, Axel, 494, 504, 513, 518, 520–528 Palaeologus, Jacobus, 177–178, 182 Paludanus, Guillielmus, 243 Pamelius, Jacobus, 104 Panigarola, Arcangela, 27 Panormitanus, 143 Paolini, Bernardino, 362 Paradiso, Jacobus de, 143 Paraeus, David, 459, 462 Paul V, Pope, 303, 355 Pauw, Adriaen, 485–486 Pelagius, 452, 454 Peletier du Mans, Jacques, 193 Pellevé, Nicolas de, 187, 198 Pellicier, Guillaume, 85 Pérez, Luis, 249, 252–253, 255–257 Périon, Joachim, 164 Perrault, Charles, 193 Perrot, Denis, 191 Persius, 354 Petrarca, Francesco, 3, 8, 21 Petreius, Johannes, Jr, 114 Petronius, 357 Philip II, King of Spain, 219–221, 224–227, 230–231, 233, 236–239, 241, 244–252, 255–257, 260–261, 270, 320, 338, 349, 366 Piccolomini, Enea Silvio (Pope Pius II), 12 Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, 93, 143 nephew Giovanni Francesco, 93 Pigafetta, Filippo, 362 Pinelli, Gianvincenzo, 164, 358 Pio, Alberto, 52 Piscator, Johannes, 459 Pistorius, Johannes (de Bakker), 206, 360

537

Pithou, François, 190, 198 Pithou, Pierre, 191, 194, 198, 381, 390, 398 Pius V, Pope, 395–396 Plantin, Christopher, 219–233, 249–250, 258–259, 268, 291, 316, 320, 323–324, 329, 331, 398 Plato, 12, 81, 151 Platter, Thomas, 149 Plautus, 314, 358 Pliny the Elder, 87 Pliny the Younger, 12 Pole, Reginald, 164 Poler, Matthäus, 117 Polyander a Kerckhoven, Johannes, 449–450, 452, 455, 464 Polybius, 395 Pontacus, Arnaldus, 388 Pontanus, Johannes Isacius, 464 Praetorius, Johannes, 116–117, 164, 179–180 Praets, Stephen, 259 Procopius, 498 Propertius, 356 Prudentius, 42, 99–100 Pulmannus, Theodorus, 231 Quintilian, 98 Rabelais, François, 69–90 Radaschinus, Michael, 118 Radbertus, Paschasius (Ratramne de Corbie), 143–144 Ramus, Petrus (de la Ramée), 164, 190, 390 Ranconnet, Aimar de, 190 Ranzovius, Henricus, 320 Raphelengius, Franciscus, Sr, 221, 229–230, 276, 316, 320, 332, 334, 338, 345–346, 349 son Franciscus, Jr, 315, 338, 345, 464 wife Margareta Plantin, 345 Rastell, William, 105–108 Rataller Doublet, George, 439 Ravensperger, Hermann, 471, 473, 475, 478 Reigersberch, Nicolaas van, 449 Reinking(k), Dietrich, 414 Requesens, Luis de, 244–248, 261 Reuchlin, Ulrich, 55, 57 Reuter, Quirinus, 165–167, 177 Revius, Jacobus, 384 Rhediger, Thomas, 359 nephew Nicolaus, 359

538

index nominum

Rhenanus, Beatus, 11, 36, 52 Rheticus, Georg, 179 Richelieu (Armand-Jean du Plessis), 493–494, 498–499, 504 Ridder, Jacobus Joannis de, 476 Ries, Hans de, 291 Rittershusius, Conrad, 355–358, 365 Rivet, André, 502, 505–506, 512 Rivière, Guillaume, 229 Roe, Thomas, 494 Roeland, Martin, 344 Röseler, Matthäus, 121 Rogerius, Servatius, 39 Ronsard, Pierre de, 150, 160, 189–190 Roper, Margaret, 93, 99–104, 108 Rose, Guillaume, 187 Rovere, Girolamo della, 152, 155 brother Francesco, 153, 155 Rubens, Philip, 305, 364 Rubens, Peter Paul, 364 Rudolph II, Emperor, 311, 354, 359 Rüdinger, Esrom, 169 Rufinus, 105 Rungius, David, 515 Rutgersius, Johannes, 365, 449–450, 453, 456, 464 Rutgersius, Winandus, 473 Sabinus, Georg, 124 Sam, Konrad, 123 Sambucus, Johannes, 132, 143 Samsonius, Hermannus, 513–529 father Naeman Samson, 515 mother Anna Bockerin, 515 Sánchez de las Brozas, Francisco, 354 Sandius, Frederic, 452, 457, 459, 464 Saravia, Adrianus, 327–329 Sarpi, Paolo, 396 Sarrau, Claude, 448, 501–507 Sartorius, Johannes (Snijders), 207 Saumaise, Claude (Salmasius), 448, 491, 495–496, 498–509, 512 pseud. Simplicius Verinus, 503, 508 Savile, Henry, 164, 179 Savile, Thomas, 164 Scaliger, Josephus Justus, 190, 200, 214, 338, 346, 353, 357–358, 365, 367, 370, 372–376, 378–390, 392–393, 395, 397–400, 450, 507 Scaliger, Julius Caesar, 80–82, 84, 379 Schinner, Matthew, 50 Schneewolf, Johann (Chiolycus), 123 brother Peter, 123 Schörckel, Sigismund, 121–122 Schonaeus, Cornelius, 212

Schoppius, Caspar, 352–366, 385, 424 Schott, Andreas, 314, 397 Schotte, Apollonius, 450, 464 Scribanius, Carolus, 386 Scriverius, Petrus, 464, 483 Scultetus, Abraham, 462 Scultetus, Tobias, 359 Seneca, 12, 267, 277, 303 Servet, Michel, 171–172 Servin, Louis, 196 Sidney, Philip, 277, 320, 324, 359 Sidney, Robert, 164 Siena, Catherine of, 22 Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland, 168, 177 Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, 516–517 Simmler, Josias, 170 Simonius, Simon, 360 Sittardus, Matthias, 132 Sixtus V, Pope, 342–343 Skytte, Johan, 518, 520–529 Slavata, Vilém, 360 Socinus (Sozzini), Faustus, 180, 182, 476, 477, 488 Socrates, 151 Sonnius, Franciscus, 251 Sosius, Thomas, 314, 336 Spiegel, Hendrik Laurensz, 289, 292 Stancaro, Francesco, 172, 177 Standish, Henry, 95 Staphylus, Fredericus, 124–125 Stapleton, Thomas, 98, 362 Statius, 192 Staverton, Frances, 100 Steen, Franciscus van de, 282 Stephanus, Henricus (Estienne), 164 Streber, Wolfgang, 114 Stromer, Heinrich, 113 Stuart, Elizabeth, 441 Sturm, Johannes, 164 Stuyver, Gerrit, 289 Sulpicius Severus, 190 Sulpizio, Giovanni, 5 Sutor, Petrus, 52 Swanenburch, Willem, 444 Sylvanus, Johannes, 176 Symmachus, 356, 365 Tacitus, 277–278, 315 Tambonneau, Jean, 191 Tauler, Johannes, 411–412, 418–419, 421 Teelinck, Willem, 432 Terence, 126, 208 Teresa of Avila, 22

index nominum Themistius, 185 Theocritus, 119–120 Thou, Christophe de, 191–192, 194 Thou, Jacques-Auguste de, 191–194, 196–198, 200–201, 382, 387, 389, 395–396, 464 Thuardus, Ludovicus, 334 Tilenus, Daniel, 435–437 Tiletanus, Jodocus, 130 Timanthes, 303 Timplerus, Clemens, 472 Tiraqueau, André, 74–75, 77–79, 89 Tisnacq, Charles de, 231 Torrentius, Laevinus, 230, 249–252, 317, 342 Tournay, Jasper, 285, 287–288, 297 Trugnitius, Johannes (Drugnetius), 124 Tudeschi, Nicolò de’, see Panormitanus Tuitiensis, Rupertus (de Deutz), 143–145 Turnebus, Adrianus (Turnèbe), 157, 159, 164, 190 Tyndale, William, 96–98 Ulrich, Johann, 525 Ursinus, Johannes, 5 Ursinus, Zacharias, 165 Utenhovius, Carolus, 149–160, 355, 398, 423 father Charles, 149, 159 uncle Jean, 154 Valla, Lorenzo, 45 Vandenberghe, Claudius, 241 Veelwaard, Daniel, 128 Vehe-Glirius, Matthias, 176 Velleius Paterculus, 277 Vendeville, Jean de, 133–134 Verantius, Antonius, 168 Vergara, Juan, 61–62 Vergil, 203, 338, 447 Verginius, Adrian, 524 Vernulaeus, Nicolaus, 214–215 Vigilius Tapsensis, 140 Virginius, Andreas, 521–522, 524 Vives, Juan Luis, 5, 53–68, 102, 111, 424 Vladeraccus, Christophorus, 212 Vondel, Joost van den, 481–483 Voocht, Leonard, 332 Vorsterman, Lucas, 496 Vorstius, Conrad, 447, 461, 465, 467, 470–478, 483, 488–489 Vossius, Gerardus Joannes, 213, 370, 382, 429–442, 447–456, 459–460, 464, 466–487, 489

539

brother-in-law Isaac Diamantius, 467 son Johan, 430 Vulcanius, Bonaventura, 263, 265, 267–269 Wacker von Wackenfels, Johannes Matthaeus, 355, 359–360, 362–364 Walaeus, Antonius, 443, 449–450, 452, 455–458, 463–464 Walsingham, Francis, 267, 271 Ward, Samuel, 437 Warham, William, 46 Weigel, Valentin, 419 Welser, Marcus, 334, 354, 358, 362–363, 386, 396 Werff, Pieter van der, 391 Westerhoff, Arnold Hendrik, 305, 307 Whitford, Richard, 104 Wied, Fridericus IV von, 132 Wierix, Jan, 218 Wilhelm V, Duke of Jülich, 132 Wilhelm Friedrich, Count of Bentheim, 471–472 William the Silent, see Orange, William of Willichius, Jodocus, 208 Winwood, Ralph, 464 Witte, Boudewijn de, 464 Wittich, Paulus, 179 Witzel, Georg, 146 Wolf, Hieronymus, 164 Wolf, Johann, 170–172 Wolsey, Thomas, 50, 63, 65 Wotton, Henry, 353 Wouters, Cornelis, 140 Woverius, Johannes, 373 Wren, Christopher, 437, 439 Wren, Matthew, 437, 440 Wtenbogaert, Johannes, 450, 459–460, 464, 487 Wycliffe, John, 95 Ximenez, Pedro, 133–137 Zanchi, Girolamo, 176, 178 Zasius, Udalricus, 53 Zayas, Gabriel de, 223–225, 227–228, 230–232, 235, 237, 240–242, 246, 257 Zúñiga, Juan de, 247–248, 261 Zuren, Jan van, 283 Zwinger, Theodore, 164 Zwingli, Ulrich, 123–124